


Sanders Sides and the Ghostly Adventure

by Dorktapus42



Series: WIP [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: But hey ghost shenanigans, Other, Peeves is cool once you get to know him, Quidditch really isn't all that safe, Why do I do this to myself, Woop woop another series, people die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-08-21 21:13:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16584299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorktapus42/pseuds/Dorktapus42
Summary: It's basically if the Sanders went to Hogwarts. Shenanigans ensue.Woop woop!People are going to die though, so fair warning. But it does all work out, so don't worry too much!The posting schedule is going to be all over the place, so fair warning, you might want to subscribe if you actually happen to want to stay updated whenever I happen to post.





	1. Chapter 1

Virgil was looking for the platform. He glanced at his ticket just to be sure. He didn’t remember seeing a platform 9 ¾ the last time he had come here- granted, that had been years ago, so he continued to search and panic. He soon reached nine and ten. There was nothing between the two but a pillar. What, was he supposed to go through it? That was absurd.

 

He moved back a bit to try to get out of the way for the commuters while he figured things out. He heard scraps of conversations from those around him, drinking coffee and running to their trains.

 

“I don’t know, these things seem to be very finicky-“

 

“What’s the platform number? Six? Where is six?-“

 

He started to freak out a little as he glanced at his watch. It was nearing the time the train left. He only had half an hour to figure things out- what if the train left without him? He’d have to go back to school- not to mention his friends would be disappointed- if he had any friends anyway.

 

He was jarred from his thoughts when someone accidentally hit him in the shoulder, making him drop his rugsack and one of his schoolbooks with a loud bang. They turned to help him, stopping when they saw the cover of the book.

 

“I just bought this book- Hogwarts too? Sorry for running into you there kiddo! I got distracted while finding the platform! Do you know where it is?”

 

He shook his head, getting up to his feet. The kid- about his age- got up as well, handing him his book. He shrugged on the heavy rugsack and attempted a smile to give back to the grinning boy.

 

“My name’s Patton! What about you? Should we try to find this train? My parents-” Man, this kid asked questions like there was no tomorrow. He couldn’t get a word edgewise. He sensed a few people behind him as he grabbed onto his trolley. A large hand ruffled Patton’s hair, causing him to stop with a small squeak of surprise.

 

“Dad! Look- I made a friend! He’s going to Hogwarts too! How do we find the platform again? We have to get on the train!”

 

The man- dressed in a grey suit with a black tie- smiled and chuckled at his son. “Nah, Pat- just go through the pillar. We talked about this, remember? Now, I have to get to work, but send us an owl about your first day okay? House, classes, friends- I’m sure you’ll be fine. I love you, okay?”

 

Patton buried his father in a hug, then grabbed his trolley and motioned to Virgil. “Come on! I remember how to get in now- let’s try to get good seats!” He bolted off towards the pillar, leaving Virgil to rush after him. Was that what it was like having a-

 

“Patton, wai-“ And the boy was gone, melting into the pillar, cart and all. He stopped, staring in disbelief. How the heck- magic was awesome! He pushed down his nervousness and tentatively ran into the pillar. Just as he was going to hit the front of his cart on the brick he felt a sudden coldness- and he was in an entirely different place.

 

 He staggered to a stop, almost running into Patton, who turned to him with a wide grin.

 

“Well? Welcome to Platform 9 ¾! Let’s go find a spot on the train!”

 

They wove through the crowd of brightly colored witches, wizards, and other magical people. They stood in a line with another boy trying to get his luggage into the train. He was struggling with an owl cage. He huffed and placed it down onto his trunk, whipping out his wand.

 

“ _Wingardium Leviosa_.” He swished it, and with a flick his trunk and cage flew onto the racks. His owl hooted softly, and he changed his mind, grabbing the cage and stepping inside.

 

The two of them were forced to wrestle the trunks onto the racks in the non-magical way- brute strength, of which they both lacked.

 

They eventually got into a booth- coincidentally with the boy from the racks, who was busy reading a thick book- probably something that fourth years would have trouble with. He looked up, then narrowed his eyes at the two of them as if x-raying. They apparently passed the test when he gestured to the seats across from him.

 

“Salutations.” He went back to his book. The cage next to them squawked and he absentmindedly pet the bird on the head. They sat.

 

“Hi! I’m Patton! What’s your name? What are you reading?” The boy looked up.

 

“Logan Sanders. Malarkey and Magic: Tales of Wonder and Blunder from Witches and Wizards Across History. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to return to my book.”

 

And he did.

 

“We have the same last name! I’m Patton Sanders! What about you kiddo? We haven’t talked at all!”

 

He swallowed, his throat dry all of a sudden. “Same last name too. What a coincidence, huh?”

 

“WOW! Who would’ve thought, hey guys? Say, what house do you think you will be in? My family’s been Hufflepuff for generations- I’ll probably be there too. Logan?”

 

Logan put a bookmark in his book and set it aside, evidently realizing he wouldn’t be able to read with all the socializing and questions.

 

“According to what I know of the houses, my guess would be Ravenclaw. It is the most logical choice, and I might actually learn something of worth. People are more often than not rather idiotic, and I would wish to be in clever company to be able to enjoy my schooling.”

 

That was a mouthful. “Kiddo? What about you?”

 

He shrugged. “I dunno much about the houses so… what do you think?”

 

They both paused, thinking. “Based on your traits that you have presented, I would say either Slytherin or Hufflepuff. You seem to be a nervous person, but past that you could be a good leader, and your body language seems to indicate that you certainly think things through like a Ravenclaw.”

 

Patton shrugged goofily. “Well I hope you’re going to be in Hufflepuff! I’d love the company of a cool kiddo like you!” He felt his face redden slightly, and he waved it off.

 

“I dunno. I guess I’ll see what happens. What really constitutes a Slytherin anyway?”

 

Logan adjusted his glasses and spoke like he was reading from a textbook. “Slytherin house was founded by Sazalar Slytherin. It is mostly populated with pureblood wizards and witches, and has a reputation for being a harbiter of dark magic. However, they are cunning and strong leaders, capable of being great company and excellent in a fight once you get past their rough exteriors.”

 

“Huh. Ironic, since I’m a muggleborn and an anxious mess with zero social skills. I guess I’ll see what happens. How do you get sorted anyway? Is it a test?”

 

Patton and Logan both shrugged.

 

“I dunno kiddo! I’m sure we’ll all pass it though.”

 

“I have found no research pertaining to the matter in any of my books, not even in Hogwarts: A History. It must be a closely-guarded secret, or possibly under the fidelius spell.”

 

They felt the train move under their feet. The journey had begun. They changed into their robes before they forgot.

 

They sat in silence. How long would the train ride take? Would there be food? He had forgotten to eat breakfast, so he hoped there was something.

 

Sure enough, a snack trolley rattled up. Virgil pulled out a few Galleons. He didn’t have much, but he needed to eat. Patton rushed around him and put down a handful of money. “I’ll have one of everything! We can share!”

 

Yep, totally a Hufflepuff. Logan raised a brow. “We do not need that much food, but I will not tell you how to waste your money.”

 

Patton ignored him, and soon dumped the food on an empty seat. They made a meal of the odd snacks, and Virgil chose the safe-looking ones just to be sure he wouldn’t float or something like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You never knew.

 

Then there were the chocolate frogs. He carefully peeled off the wrapper- to find a frog-shaped piece of chocolate and a fancy card. There was nobody in the picture, but the card said MERLIN in gold underneath. He flipped it over to read. It was pretty basic information that of course the muggle world had gotten wrong. He was a medieval wizard who had created a spell to transfigure rocks into sword-like objects. He had no ghost and was highly revered as one of the greatest transfiguration wizards of all time. Interesting.

 

He ate the chocolate. Completely normal, with a hint of caramel. Delicious.

 

He was about to say something to Patton about it before a ruckus outside drew their attention. Logan raised an eyebrow, setting down his book. Patton jumped up and ran out of the door.

 

Two boys were pointing their wands at each other in the corridor and had amassed a crowd of sightseers yelling and cheering. The taller of the two with sweeping brown hair straightened, adopting a daring pose- a dueling pose?- and began to speak.

 

“I suggest you turn back now before you meet the wrath of Roman Sanders. I would pity you if you brought that fate upon yourself.” He changed his pose to one of determined chivalry, pointing his wand with an outstretched arm instead of what he’d been doing earlier. His voice grew hard, with a cold edge. “Apologize. Now.”

 

“I would never apologize to a mudblood lover.”

 

There were a few strangled gasps, including from Patton, Logan, and Roman.

 

“You dare-!”

 

He opened his mouth to say a spell when-

 

“ _Pitrificus Totalis!_ ” His limbs fused together and he fell onto his face. The opponent- another first year judging from the plain black robes- spat at him and stalked away, head held aloof. Logan and Patton went forward after the crowds disappeared, and Logan waved his wand, muttering something. Roman’s limbs unfused, and Patton helped him up.

 

Virgil finally moved, helping steady the kid. “You okay Prince Arthur?” He bit his lip, wondering why that came out. Roman’s face broke out into a smile.

 

“Thanks. Say, how’d you unfuse me?”

 

Logan rolled his eyes. “Does nobody take the time to learn the counterspell? I am surrounded by-“ he broke off, realizing that he was about to insult his possible friends. Roman raised a brow.

 

“Was that a Disney reference?”

 

“What’s Disney?” Roman and Virgil turned to Patton, who looked curious and confused.

 

 _“You’ve never heard of Disney?!”_ They said in unison before looking at each other in astonishment.

 

How the hell had he never- he had to show him what he missed. Roman gasped dramatically, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We must show you all of the wonders you are missing! They are a set of wonderful, wonderful movies- with music and dancing and magic and royalty-“

 

“They also have good messages and morals. I prefer the Black Cauldron myself, but you’d like Princess and the Frog or Winnie the Pooh. The music gets stuck in your head for days though.”

 

Roman gasped. “We have to plan something over the summer then- if we become friends that is.” He suddenly looked nervous.

 

Patton grabbed them all into a hug. “The fact we have the same last name is the best sign I could hope for! I do hope we will be friends, no matter what house we’re in.”

 

“Well, I will most likely be in Gryffindor, so let us see how the cards fall.” They made their way to their compartment.

 

That day a beautiful friendship was made.

 

—————————

 

They stared out if the window as Hogwarts finally came into view amongst the mountains. They neared the station.

 

They started to clean up and collect their stuff. Roman had grabbed his stuff from the carriage he’d been at, and Logan hurried them towards the exit.

 

They got into the station, carrying their assorted smaller items- their trunks would be delivered later, as well as their pets, but Logan held onto Merlin, his owl. He offered no explanation except that he didn’t want him to get lost. They shrugged but funneled off the train with the other students.

 

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years ‘ver ‘ere!” Virgil turned around to see a massive man- he had to be eight feet tall- towering behind him. He froze, stumble back a few feet into Roman, who grinned at the man.

 

“Hagrid! It’s great to see you!”

 

Huh. So he knew the giant. Welp, nothing to do than get in the boats. So they did, the four of them in one, and went to the castle’s boathouse. They were led up a stone path to a building adjacent to two large doors that Logan said led to the Great Hall. Huh. This place was massive.

 

They were met with a tall, stern-looking woman in a navy blue outfit, complete with a pointed hat. She cleared her throat.

 

“Hello first years. My name is Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House. You are about to be sorted into your houses. I will call your name- last name followed by first- and you will go up to the stool to wear the Sorting Hat. There will be no room for argument or bargaining- the hat makes the decision. You will sit with your house afterwards, and then your prefects will take it from there. Good luck.”

 

The opened the massive doors behind her, and they all swept into the massive hall full of students staring at them. At him. His body was on autopilot, but his mind was locked in a state of panic. Patton clearly noticed, brushing his shoulder with his own to calm him down a little. They approached the hat. There was a few seconds of silence, then the hat began to sing.

 

“Welcome to Hogwarts,

Large and small

Here is a place to teach you all

Placed in houses, you’ll make peace.

They’ll become home, if but a piece.

 

One of four, we will choose.

You may go to Gryffindor;

Brave and noble to the end,

A Gryffindor is a good friend.

 

You may go to Slytherin;

Hard work and cunning will be seen,

Although presented with a bad sheen.

 

You may go to Ravenclaw;

Smart and wise, you will excel.

From classes to the stars, time will tell,

 

Or in kind Hufflepuff;

Those who love and make friends

You are the heart and the glue that mends.

 

No matter what, you will see;

There is where you’re meant to be.

From friend to foe

We all shall go

And learn magic how we shall.

 

Good luck to all who wear me soon

Who have just entered to this room

And to those who have worn me before

We shall learn and learn some more

 

Welcome to Hogwarts: and the family here

Shall last us all a hundred year.”

 

It grew silent and then to great applause, the first years included, who looked relieved when they realized that they didn’t have to battle a dragon or something.

 

McGonagall stood next to the hat and began to call names.

 

“Isjo, Jay!”

 

“SLYTHERIN!”

 

She kept calling names. They went to the corresponding tables when the hat called out their house.

 

Then she got to their little group.

 

“Sanders, Logan.”

 

He went up to the stool. The hat had barely touched his head when it shouted-

 

“RAVENCLAW!”

 

Good for Logan. He got what he wanted. How what about the others? Logan went over to the cheering table in the blue and bronze.

 

“Sanders, Patton!”

 

The whispers began. Patton paid them no mind and went up to the chair. It had laid on his head for about ten seconds or so before shouting-

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

 

He went to the table in yellow, smiling widely.

 

“Sanders, Roman!”

 

He went up. After about a minute of tense silence the hat shouted-

 

“GRYFFINDOR!”

 

The boy was ecstatic in his joy, almost floating to the table in red and gold who was cheering for him.

 

He was next. Oh shit- they would know his name. Well, there was nothing to do about it now. Everyone would know. And that caused him to be very anxious- hence his nickname for years. He almost had told them to use that, but he didn’t even think about it until now. He was jolted back to the present.

 

“Sanders, Virgil!”

 

He stepped onto the stool, putting on the hat with shaking hands- bringing the brim down to cover his eyes and hide the staring crowd.

 

“Well well well… who do we have here? Virgil, isn’t it? I can’t see much- there’s plenty of anxiety- calm down dear student. I won’t hurt you. There’s plenty of cleverness, bravery too… you care deeply for your friends… very cunning and persevering. Hmm… where to put you? What a pickle… What do you want?”

 

_What?_

 

“What house do you think you’d fit in? I do take choice into account you know.”

 

He racked his brain. _Well, I’m certainly not very brave. I run from everything. I am a problem identifier, but not a problem solver. I’m not very friendly, and not a very good leader. Then there is what everyone expects me to be…_ He trailed off, waiting for the decision to be made for him.

 

“Do you even want to be in a house? Your friends are all in different houses, which one would you want to be with, if any? Maybe that will make it easier.”

 

Hmm. Patton and Logan were alright, but he knew he and Roman would drive each other up the wall eventually. So not Gryffindor, and besides- he couldn’t be brave and chivalrous all the time. Ravenclaw was too smart- he just had some street smarts he’d cobbled together over the years. And he wasn’t very friendly or hardworking- he just did what he had to to survive. So not Hufflepuff either, really, although he’d probably get along with Patton the best…

 

But then there was what everyone expected him to be. Cold, mean, cunning, a strong leader. That just wasn’t him. He wasn’t mean or cold, just defensive and overthinking. So that didn’t feel right either.

 

_I dunno. None of them really fit me._

 

“Well I will just have to pick. In that case…..”

 

The hat shouted, and he heard it both inside his head and out. The cap almost fell off of his head in shock.

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

 

His mouth fell open as the table clad in yellow stood and cheered. He got up, handed the hat back to McGonagall, and numbly went to the table and sat next to Patton.

 

Hufflepuff?! The hat must be mistaken… but he’d deal with it. And besides- according to Logan they were right by the kitchen. He could get snacks anytime he wanted. There was a silver lining. And besides, he was with Patton, the one person he wouldn’t get annoyed with as easily as Logan or Roman. That was fortunate.

 

A tall person next to him bent over as if to whisper. Their voice carried more than they meant as they ‘whispered’ a “WELCOME TO HUFFLEPUFF!” He tried not to cringe at the volume of the voice. They retreated, speaking at a slightly lower volume. “I was too loud, wasn’t I? Sorry about that. One of my flaws- everyone around here gets used to it pretty quickly, and I’m sure you will too. I’m Molly Dorrin. Nice to meet you Virgil! Man, you were up there for a while… I think it was a hatstall!” Hufflepuffs sure asked a lot of questions.

 

He zoned out as the other kids were sorted. Then the boy from earlier- the one Roman had dueled with- went up as his name was called.

 

“Zachary, D-“ A cough masked the rest of the name. But that didn’t matter. He went up to the stool, and like Roman, it had barely reached his head when it screamed-

 

“SLYTHERIN!”

 

The table in green cheered, and a few of them sent snickers and glares their way. Jerks.

 

And that was the sorting. As McGonagall put away the hat and stool, a long-bearded man in purple robes went up to the owl-themed lectern. He cleared his throat. The room quieted instantly, except for the whispering of Slytherins and Gryffindors.

 

“My name is Professor Dumbledore. I am headmaster of this school, and I welcome you here to Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As your Heads of House will tell you most of the rules, and I have few announcements to report, I shall not keep you from your food for long.” His eyes twinkled. “Stay out of the Forest. No magic in the halls. Don’t try to trap Peeves. We have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Cusco, and I ask you to follow these words: Armoire, Fiddlesticks, and Dinkleberry. Now for the Hogwarts song, and we shall get on your way. Everyone, pick a tune!”

 

Then the whole hall burst into song, and ribbons leapt from the end of Dumbledore’s wand to form words. Virgil scrambled, and chose the tune of Black Parade by Panic! At the Disco.

 

“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy, Warty, Hogwarts.

Teach us something please.

Whether we be old and bald, or young with scabby knees.

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff.

Our heads are bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff.

So teach us stuff worth knowing

Or stuff that we’ve forgot.

We’ll learn and learn and learn and learn

And learn ‘till our brains all rot!”

 

They all finished at different times, until Roman finally ended with his version of ‘Someday My Prince Will Come.’

 

Dumbledore clapped his hands. “Ah, Music. The best magic of all we do here. Tuck in!”

 

Then the golden plates before them started to fill with food. His mouth watered as he saw the spread before them. There was meat, pudding, potatoes, candy… almost everything imaginable was before him. He grabbed a bit of what he knew he liked ad started to eat. He looked over at Patton, and- oh my god what the jim jams was on his plate. It looked like ice cream and cereal covered with candy and hot fudge and was that a cherry on top? And he was eating it like it was no big deal!

 

“Patton, what the heck is on your plate?” About five people were looking at the horrible conglomeration his friend was eating.

 

“Oh, this? I call it the Patton-Palooza. Wanna try?” He held out a dripping finger. Had he eaten that with his hands?!

 

“Patton, you could get seriously injured by that much sugar and carbs. How the heck do you eat that? Just looking at it gives me a sugar rush.”

 

Patton shrugged and dove back in. He shook his head and went back to his mashed potatoes. Molly was looking at them, eating nothing but a thing of yoghurt and mac and cheese. These people were crazy. Were none of them normal? What was normal? Oh crap, with this many questions he really was a Hufflepuff.

 

Eventually they finished their food. Molly stood up, groaning. “Dang it, I have to go do my job.” Then with impressive volume she shouted: “OI! HUFFLEPUFFS! LET’S BOUNCE!” With a few cheers the table followed her out of the room and out of a door with a hallway leading to the kitchen. A massive painting was there of a garden. Molly knocked on one of the wooden barrels, followed by a man in surprising muggle sunglasses drinking from a- was that a Starbucks? How did he even get that in here?

 

 A tune rang out from the barrels. She thought for a second, then knocked on the barrels in a certain order, mimicking the song. The barrel burst open, leading to a hidden corridor. 

 

Molly swept in, followed by what he assumed was the other prefect.

 

"Thanks hon!”

 

They all managed to get in somehow, and the door closed behind them. Molly threw herself down on the nearest couch. "Alright, that tune right there is the tune to "Helga Hufflepuff". You have to knock in that certain order to get in. Simple. If you get it wrong you get doused in vinegar and have to try again. Okay, that’s all the work I have to do today. Dormitories are in the lofts, boys on the left, girls on the right. If you have any questions ask me or Remy- your stuff should be there too, as well as your new robes. Goodnight.”

 

And she fell asleep right there on the couch. They all stared at her for a few seconds before dispersing to look around. Patton and Virgil climbed the ladder to the lofts, along with some of the other newbies, and claimed their beds, which were in little alcoves in the walls to account for the large yellow rug in the centre of the round room. Virgil climbed to the one the furthest from the others and drew the curtains around himself. It was like a little yellow nest. It was nice and alone. The quilt was soft and homey.

 

Then Patton stuck his face in. “Hello kiddo! I got the bed next to you, so we can have fun and hang out and stuff! Pass notes, do homework…” He trailed off as he saw Virgil clutching a pillow in front of him like a shield. Virgil slowly relaxed, putting down the pillow.

 

“Sorry. You scared me a bit there Pat. That sounds cool. Knock or something first though if you want to come in here.” His bed was circular, like the room, and he had a bunch of pillows packed in there. The perfect nest.

 

“Okay Kiddo! You sure you don’t have too many pillows though? How will you sleep?”

 

“I’ll manage. I’m gonna put on my new robes though and unpack my things… so yeah.”

 

Patton got the hint. “Okie dokie loki! I’ll do the same and see you when you’re done. Maybe tomorrow we can see the others at breakfast!”

 

He ducked out. Virgil changed and put up a few of the posters he had stashed in his trunk for decoration. Ah, that’s better. It was too bright before. He just wished the robes had hoods. And more pockets. But they had inside pockets so that was slightly better.

 

He took out his wand. 14 inches. Hawthorn and unicorn hair. Swishy. Good for charms. Well, according to Ollivander. He remembered some of the spells he’d seen when he’d read the books for their charms class. He wanted to try them, but he supposed he should wait for when they learned them in class. So he inspected his wand, fingering the delicate filigree on the end. It reminded him of feathers. Interesting. He wondered what the others’ wands looked like. Welp, that was something to figure out later. He swung his legs out over the edge of the bed and grabbed one of the poles supporting the loft that came from the ground and to the ceiling, shimmying down like it was a firepole.

 

He landed right behind Patton, who was looking at the room. “Heya.”

 

He squeaked and turned around. “Oh! Hey Virgil!”

 

“Hey Patton. Weird question, but can I see your wand? I want to see what the filigree looks like.” Patton shrugged and handed it over. The wand was rather plain except for a group of ribbons and shooting stars. It was very Patton. “Cool. It fits you. I wonder what the others have… cool personality test idea.” He trailed off as he remembered something. “What about our schedules for tomorrow? Do we get those at breakfast? Man, us Hufflepuffs ask a lot of questions, don’t we?”

 

They both laughed. Patton winked.

 

“Yeah, we sure axolotl them.”

 

It took a few seconds before Virgil groaned, fighting a smirk. “Pat! You tell Dad jokes!”

 

He smiled. “What, you don’t appreciate fine humor? That’s dad-stardly, But I’m going to go to bed before I stay up all night.”

 

He groaned, fighting back a snicker. He clambered back up to his bed. Other people were doing the same thing. He debated on changing his robes, but he fell into bed and asleep before he could.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

He got out of bed, groggy, and almost fell to the floor before he woke up enough to realize where he was. He took the pole down and took the opportunity that almost nobody was awake to take a shower.

 

And holy heck was it hot. He couldn’t figure it out enough to turn it down to non-scalding levels, but he suffered in silence. He preferred cold showers, but he’d live just this once.

 

He threw his robes on and walked into the common room. “That was hot as hell...” He muttered. Patton leapt out of nowhere, scaring him half to death.

 

“Was it full of conden-satan? Was there percipi-satan in the mirror?” He stopped when he realized there was a wand pointed at his throat. Virgil came to his senses and put it back in his pocket.

 

“Sorry. Don’t scare me like that, alright? I almost hexed you.”

 

“You don’t know any hexes, do you?”

 

“I read. I know one or two. Simple, but unpleasant.”

 

“Oh. Sorry then. I’ll walk loudly or something next time.”

 

They fell into step and walked over to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were impatient to get their schedules, and they were impatient to see what the food was.

 

They sat far away from the other prefect’s crowd of people. There was the classic selection of eggs and bacon and stuff, but there was also waffles and pancakes and burritos and pop tarts. They dug in.

 

The other tables slowly filled. There was a swooping noise, and owls streamed in carrying packages and letters. Virgil received a parchment scroll with his schedule, as did Patton. They had the same classes, and a bunch overlapped with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, which meant they could see the others.

 

First was Transfiguration, so they decided to leave early to see whether they could find it.

 

It took them half an hour. For the rep of being good finders, none of them had a shred of a sense of direction.

 

But they eventually found it and settled into their half of the classroom. Evidently a few others had the same idea as them, and they were paired with the Ravenclaws in this class. Logan was reading a book in the front row. Patton tackled him.

 

“LOGAN!”

 

He dropped the book to the ground with a large thud as the boy tackled him. “Patton, wha-“

 

“I missed you Logan! How are you? What’s your house like?”

 

A few people snickered. One brave soul spoke. “Are you guys related? You have the same last name-“

 

“Nope! Just a cool coincidence. I think it’s great, how about you Virgil?”

 

He shrugged, picking up Logan’s book. He turned it over. “’Transfiguration Transformed: Famous Casters’? I bought this too- it’s a good book. You’d like it. Library I presume?” Logan looked impressed.

 

“You’ve read it? It’s rather good- why by chance did your sorting take so long anyway? I heard a few people say something like that hasn’t happened in years- the term is Hatstall I believe.”

 

Virgil shrugged, taking a seat across the aisle. “I didn’t fit neatly into any of them. Somehow I got Hufflepuff. But hey, at least I get to hang with Patton. Have you seen Roman?’

 

Logan sighed, looking annoyed. “Yes I have. I heard a rumor that he was caught traipsing through the halls last night, apparently something about a duel between him and that boy from the train yesterday. Reckless and foolish behavior. He’s lucky it’s the beginning of the year and he’s a First Year or he’d probably be in more trouble. Reckless idiots, those Gryffindors. Not all of them of course, but not quite as rule-regarding as the rest of us.” Patton broke into his tirade.

 

“Oh look, there’s the Professor!” And there she was. She swept into the room, in an emerald green cloak this time, and stood in the front of the room. She tapped her wand like a pointer on the lectern. The class quieted. They didn’t want to get on her bad side.

 

Class had begun.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

They managed to find their next classes in time until Potions. They sprinted into the room just as Snape shut the door behind him.

 

“Sanders, Sanders. You’re almost late. Do try to hurry up next time or there will be consequences.”

 

They had this class with the Gryffindors. They saw Roman in the very back, his head down and nobody around him. They took the same table. He ignored them as Snape did his dramatic introduction.

 

“Potions is more than meddling with ingredients and curing poisons. It is the fine art of the mastery of the elements in liquid form- brewing fame, stoppering glory, and bottling death. Don’t mess it up. Take notes on….”

 

And they did. Eventually Snape went out to deal with Peeves and they had time to talk.

 

“You okay Roman? I heard about what happened.”

 

Virgil nodded in agreement. Roman groaned and put his head on the table.

 

“I ruined everything. I fell for that kid’s dupe and ended up losing five points from Gryffindor. I’m a failure.”

 

Virgil almost had to laugh. “Princey- five points is nothing. I saw this kid lose twenty in the courtyard for pushing another kid into a fountain. Don’t worry. You’re knocking things out of proportion.” He tapped him on the head with his wand. “Cheer up ya moron. Relax and enjoy your first day.”

 

Roman managed a grin. “Thanks Emo Nightmare. Have to say though- yellow isn’t really your color, but it works.”

 

“Thanks Sir Robin. You dress yourself quite nicely too. Red’s not bad on you. Shit- Snape’s coming back.” He didn’t catch the reference. Shame. Monty Python was brilliant.

 

They quieted just as Snape came in.  He stood there for a few seconds, surveying the class. Finally he spoke. “I’m not an idiot. One point from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.” Huh. He must be in a good mood. Peeves must have knocked the DADA Professor down the stairs or something.

 

They finished up the class and headed to lunch. “Herbology after this. You, Roman?”

 

“Charms.”

 

“Ah, we have that last. With the Slytherins. We have Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Logan says hello, we’ll send him your regards.”

 

“See ya nerd and Patton.” He waved and they took their seats at their tables for lunch. Good food, as usual. They had great grilled cheese. He doubted he’d ever get tired of their potatoes. And the broccoli Patton slipped onto his plate wasn’t bad too.

 

On to Herbology.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“My name is Professor Picani and this-“ He said, gesturing to a plant. “is a plant. Well, specifically a ginger plant. Excellent for stomach aches. We will be learning all sorts of things about plants such as-“ Logan raised his hand. “Yes Sanders?

 

“Is that a mandrake over there Sir?”

 

“Yes, Logan, that is a mandrake. If you want to see it come after class, I have headphones. As I was saying, we will be learning a lot about plants. We might even take a field trip to the forest in the spring with Hagrid if we can. Interesting wildlife out in the forest. Glorious flora and fauna. As I was saying, we will be learning and studying the uses for and how to care for plants. How to tend them, plant them, feed them, and use them for their purpose. Or now, I will take you all on a tour of the greenhouse. Follow me.”

 

 

And they did.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Next was Charms. Virgil almost had to laugh at Professor Flitwick as he stood on his usual stack of books. They were learning the basics along with the levitation spell he had seen Logan do on the train. They were all having a bit of trouble with it, but that was mostly because the kid from the train was talking loudly with his friends about students.

 

Then he got to Roman.

 

“And then that idiot Sanders- He must be as gullible as a rock to believe that I’d duel with him. He doesn’t even know any magic! After that fiasco of his on the train I can basically walk over him like a doormat. He wouldn’t stand a chance in an actual fight, I can tell.”

 

Virgil felt a wave of cold fury rush over him. He stood up, seeing that Flitwick had dozed off in his chair, and went over to the boy. He hadn’t noticed him yet.

 

“And not to mention his parentage- I don’t even think our kind should mix with muggles. Halfwits the lot of them.”

 

Virgil tapped him on the shoulder. They all turned around in surprise- they hadn’t noticed him come over. The boy turned around. “What’re you, his brother? Or are you a squib? I heard that’s why the hat took so long- you were a fluke and it threw you into Hufflepuff along with the rest of the trash.”

 

“I wouldn’t speak of him like that.” Ooh, he was pissed. But stay cool and wait for the right moment. The kid stood up and poked him in the chest.

 

“Yeah squib? You might as well be defending a mudblood- they don’t do shit here anyways. Might get you further than helping a half-kind.”

 

He straightened himself up to his full height- at least three inches taller than the boy. He flicked his wand. A book flew over and put itself between them, forcing the boy back a step- he didn’t really want to hurt him after all. “Now lay off my friends and earn some respect.” He returned to his seat.

 

Flitwick clapped, now awake. “Excellent use of the spell! Impressive nonverbal usage too- very advanced! Ten points to Hufflepuff!”

 

They practiced for the rest of the class period. Virgil was still steaming, but he eventually cooled off enough to apologize to Patton.

 

“Sorry about that.”

 

“Kiddo, why be sorry? He deserved it.” He looked as annoyed as Virgil had ever seen him. Almost angry. Huh. He seemed to like his friends.

 

Huh. Was this like other people were like when they made friends?

 

He found he didn’t mind.

 

Besides, that guy was an asshole. He didn’t know his parentage, but if all purebloods were like that- no, no. They weren’t all bad. He was sure of it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the lengths definitely vary on this story. 
> 
> Anyway, I'll probably post on this when I write some more, so... subscribe of you want to see that! If you've seen anything I've missed- like spelling errors or continuity or something- feel free to tell me! I tried to get everything, but I am human, so... 
> 
> Thank you for reading and have a great day!


	3. Chapter 3

Virgil clambered out of bed in the middle of the night and went down the pole as usual. To his surprise, a crowd of first and second years was around the notice board, talking adamantly about something called Quidditch. Patton would probably know what that was. Sure enough, he saw the boy curled up on the couch, half asleep and listening to muted music coming from a record player.

 

The soft tunes of piano floated through the air as he sat down by Patton and grabbed a yellow blanket. “Heya Pat.”

 

The boy waved halfheartedly and fell back upon the arm of the overstuffed chair. They sat there for a few minutes. Virgil got an idea and stood up. “Hey Pat, you like tea? Hot cocoa?”

 

Patton nodded faintly. He went over to the other prefect who was working on homework. Man that had to hurt your sleep schedule. “Uh, excuse me?”

 

He looked up. “Yeah? What’cha need hon?”

 

“How do you get to the kitchens?”

 

Remy broke out into a smile as he set his books and parchment aside. “Follow me.”

 

 

\---------

 

 

The prefect reached up and tickled the pear. With a high-pitched giggle the frame swung open. Virgil stepped through the painting after the sixth year, immediately noticing the lack of people and absence of light except for a flickering fire and the moonlight streaming through the high windows. He figured out what he needed rather quickly and set about making a hot chocolate. He went to the stove, moving aside a step stool.

 

Now that he noticed, there were a lot of step stools and short cabinets. He had to weave around them to get to the milk and chocolate, not to mention duck into the pantry to get the marshmallows through the tiny door- and he wasn’t very tall. He hoped Patton would like it- he had noticed the figure feeling kind of sad in the last few days. Homesick maybe?

 

He put a pot on the stove to warm the milk. Who worked in here anyways? The stove was the perfect height for him without the step stool, and everything just seemed…. small.

 

The teen from earlier grabbed some snacks, and he hurried to finish the hot chocolate so they could leave together. He quickly assembled the drinks and washed out the pan. He didn’t want to make extra work for anybody.

 

He was just about to leave when he heard a noise, jumping slightly as it echoed in the silent room.

 

Standing before him was a tiny elf-like creature that probably only reached his knee, holding a pair on tongs and a huge coal scuttle. It wore a tan pillowcase-tunic, with a Hogwarts crest painted on the chest. A squeaky voice came from its mouth.

 

“Can I get anything from you young master? You should have called me- I could have happily gotten the drinks for you- any house-elf would have. Would you like some bread? Scones? Tea?” It made to head towards the breadbaskets on the right. He shook his head.

 

“Uh- I’m okay, thank you though. I wouldn’t want you to do any extra work. What’s your name?”

 

It rocked on its toes, stopping in place. He noticed it was barefoot. Did they not have any clothes at all?

 

“Bottlecaps sir. You can call me what you like sir, but I go by Bottlecaps here. I have work to do, but it was nice to meet you sir. Goodnight sir.”

 

And Bottlecaps scuttled off towards the fires, turning the logs and adding fuel. They soon left through the side door in the shadows. It probably went up to his waist at the most.

 

Virgil turned back around, balancing the mugs, and headed out the painting. The sixth year followed him, looking slightly annoyed.

 

“Why’d you turn away the house-elf? Their job is kinda to help us out you know.”

 

“I didn’t want to make them do any extra work. They looked like they’d been up all night, and they were still working.”

 

“Oh, they must be one of the nocturnal ones. They mostly come and go unnoticed, but you can sometimes see a couple working in the shadows, and there are tons in the kitchen.”

 

“How many are there?”

 

“Oh, tons. Maybe a couple hundred? Only Dumbledore would know that though. He keeps offering to pay them, but they take the phrase ‘live to work’ as their motto. They can’t get aid or receive clothes- they take it as a serious offense to their livelihood. That one was one of the mellower ones- I’ve seen them following the Quidditch players to clean up the mud behind them. The neat freaks.” This was said with a small smirk. "They do manage to get me coffee 24/7 though, so I have to give them that."

 

“I think they’re cool. We should probably head back before Filch catches us though.”

 

“Oh, they don’t care. We do this all the time. You might see a few Slytherins complaining about it, but it’s kind of our staple- along with being cool and stuff. Let’s go anyways- I have homework to do.”

 

And they did, knocking on the barrels.

 

Virgil went over to Patton, who was dozing off on the chair of the couch. He nudged him with the side of the mug. “Want one?”

 

Patton woke up with a start. “Wha-? Oh, thanks Virge.”

 

The drinks disappeared quickly, and they soon fell asleep on the couch to the sound of the fire.

 

Hours later, a small figure draped a blanket around them after tending the fire and watering the plants.

 

“Goodnight young masters. Sleep well.”

 

Virgil woke up to sudden warmth and the sound of small, soft footsteps padding away. He smiled a little, still half-asleep. “Thanks.” he muttered drowsily, curling back up on the couch.

 

He fell back asleep, forgetting the whole thing by the morning.

 

 

\----------

 

 

They woke up on the couch, curled up together. Welp, this was awkward. Virgil moved one of Patton’s arms to get out.

 

His feet met cold stone. He looked around. He had no idea where they were. Where was the common room?

 

“I see you’ve woken up.” A familiar voice said behind him. He turned around. Dumbledore was sitting on an armchair reading a book. Oh crap.

 

“Excuse me for asking, but-“

 

“How did you get here?”

 

He nodded, slightly fearful for the answer. Dumbledore smiled.

 

“Well, I woke up early to go get some tea and the two of you were sitting right outside my office. You seem to be the butt of a very impressive joke, young Sanders.”

 

He swallowed. “Uh-“

 

“Nobody else seems to be awake. Would you like me to transport you back to your common room?”

 

He nodded dumbly. “Thanks.”

 

Dumbledore waved his wand. “Of course. Have a nice day.”

 

He felt a tugging motion in his gut, and his surroundings changed to the common room. The room was empty except for Molly Dorran. She was smirking.

 

“Did it work? Who found you?”

 

Virgil’s mouth hung open. “Why would you- how did you-?” He was soon too busy laughing. He managed to speak between wheezes. “Who did you want to find us?”

 

“I dunno- a Ravenclaw or something. Why, who did? If it was Filch I’m sorry.”

 

He laughed harder. “Dumbledore. He was the one who sent us back.”

 

Dorran laughed so hard Patton woke up. “What happened? Why are we laughing? Did I tell a joke in my sleep again?”

 

That sent them all into hysterics again.

 

There were a few complaints from the dorms. Someone levitated a pillow to hit him in the face.

 

But his morning was shaping up to be a good one, despite the prank.

 

Now where had he gotten the purple blanket? All of the ones in here were yellow…

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that they're the same year as Percy Weasley.... heh.   
> Also, DADA! Flying lessons! and..... 
> 
> *drumroll*
> 
> More Picani!

He had finally finished a potions lesson. Snape hadn’t yelled at him, which was nice. He, Patton, and Logan were now partners, which was great. He had managed to make a forgetfulness potion and hadn’t managed to mess anything up too badly. He washed his cauldron and packed up his things. He had to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Their first lesson was in ten minutes with a mix of all four houses, which was great. Maybe Roman would be there.

 

He and Patton, along with Logan, managed to find the room in enough time to get three seats together and save a fourth just in case. Roman came in a few minutes later, and they waved him over.

 

“Hello Round Table!”

 

Logan looked down at the desk and back. “This table is square Roman.”

 

Roman sighed, setting down his bag and sitting down. “It’s a history reference Calculator Watch. There’s Professor Cusco.”

 

And there she was. They finally got a good glimpse of the woman, brightly colored hair and in black robes decorated with buttons. A perfect mishmash of muggle culture and wizard-ness.

 

“Hello class. My name is Professor Cusco. And this-“ She said, pointing her wand to one of the many posters hanging on the wall. “Is a ghoul.” The skeletal creature stared at them through the paper. She paced the front. “Not a ghost, not a zombie, not a teenager with sleep deprivation. If you want to pass this class, you have to take notes on the differences.”

 

There was a stunned silence, then the scramble to take out parchment. She waited. “Everyone have paper? Good. Here’s a pen. Don’t lose it. It will never run out of ink, so keep ahold of it. Those quills are annoying and old-fashioned.” She tossed a pack of ballpoint pens at them. “Pass it around while I write on the board. Feel free to doodle or whatever if it helps as long as it isn’t on the homework. Now watch and learn.”

 

She wrung them through the wringer on the first day. By the end they were exhausted but happy at the same time. Next class they were going to cover some simple spells against the creatures according to the syllabus.

 

They all went to lunch, glad that they had a small break before their flying lessons. Virgil was nervous- he didn’t really want to leave the ground all that much.

 

He managed to choke down his food. He and Patton trudged out to the pitch, where they met with the Ravenclaws. Madame Hooch was waiting for them, about thirty brooms spread out on the ground.

 

“Each student to a broom, hop to it.”

 

They scrambled to them, trying to get a decent one. Virgil’s broom had a bunch of bent twigs on the tail end. Logan and Patton’s didn’t look too much better. He eyed it nervously as Madame Hooch explained the rules they would use when they practiced.

 

Then they had to try to call the broom to them. He wondered whether it was like a dog and it sensed fear. That was ridiculous- it was just a broomstick. He held his hand over it like they were instructed. The whistle blew.

 

“UP!”

 

A few brooms did nothing, like Logan’s. A few rolled slightly, like Patton’s. He was surprised when his jumped into his hand. What the heck?

 

Madame Hooch started to talk about mounting the broom and the proper grip. He and the others simply stared at each other.

 

 _‘How did you do that?’_ Logan mouthed.

 

He shrugged.

 

 _‘I’m sure_ swept _off my feet._ ’ Patton said with a wink.

 

He shrugged again and followed instructions, mounting his broom. He wondered whether Roman had had any luck with his.

 

Then he heard that they would have to fly. He paled. He’d really rather stay on the ground…

 

And they kicked off from the ground. He felt the wind rushing past him….

 

And it was wonderful.

 

Even on the crappy broom, his fears melted away instantly. Hooch started to talk about how to start and stop, along with other basic stuff, and some of the wizard-born started to go around the area, already knowing what to do. He had no freaking clue what to do, but he instinctively went after them. Logan and Patton watched him, slack-jawed, then hurried to catch up. They started to lap the area, a few people showing off a bit.

 

Logan, too eager to get started and catch up, kicked hard off the ground and immediately realized he had messed up in his calculations, quickly getting swept up in the wind, blowing across the field. He saw his friend mouth the words ‘oh shit.’

 

\--THUMP-- Blood rushed in his ears, his perception of time down to a crawl. –THUMP--

 

He saw the boy’s hands begin to slip, and the fear in his eyes- the strongest emotion he had seen Logan show, actually. –THUMP--His instincts kicked in. He few off the track and zoomed towards Logan, going under him just as he began to fall. –THUMP--

 

And somehow he managed to catch him. Some miracle had made it so he caught his friend ten feet off the ground. –THUMP—THUMP----- Thump----

 

His blood finally stopped pumping in his ears as he lowered the two of them to the ground. Kids crowded around them, and Logan got up, brushing off his robe. Madame Hooch summoned the broom before it could fly off.

 

There was a tense silence as Madame Hooch checked Logan for injuries, although he said he was fine. Then some of the whispers started. The classic one-liners: falling for him, some other obscure wizard variations on the same thing. Virgil set the broom on the ground.

 

“You okay Logan? Not as in injured, ‘cause you’ve said you’re fine, but well, you get what I mean, right?”

 

Logan was about to answer when Patton tackled the two of them.

 

“Patton!”

 

“Pat!”

 

Professor Picani swept out of the nearest entrance. “Is everybody okay? I was meeting with Professor McGonagall and we saw the whole thing- is anybody injured? Sanders? Other Sanders?”

 

They shook their heads. He sighed, relaxing quite a bit; he raised his voice. “Good. Well, the bell’s about to ring for break, if all of you would like to run along.” He lowered his voice, turning to their little group of three. “If you three would care to join me for tea, I have a few matters to discuss.”

 

The loud bell cut all of them off, and the students scattered. Picani turned to the three of them. “Tea?”

 

They soon were sitting in his office, looking at all of the Disney paraphernalia and confused as to why they were here. Picani waved his wand, and a tray of biscuits appeared. “Biscuit?” They took one. He settled back in his office chair, fiddling with his wand.

 

“Now, I’m sure that you’re confused why you are here.”

 

“That would be an understatement.”

 

He nodded at Logan, who was still looking around at the décor. “You want some tea? I understand I’m not your head of house, but I can still extend the offer.”

 

Wait- he was their head of house? How had he not known that? Huh.

 

“Sorry if this is blunt, but why are we here? I mean- the tea is great and all, but any other reason?”

 

Picani gestured for them to sit down. They did. “Well, I was just going to talk to Virgil, but you two were there and moral support is a great thing. I was specifically going to ask what really happened and whether you would like to try out for Quidditch Virgil.”

 

“But aren’t first years not allowed to play?” Logan blurted out.

 

“Well, yes and no. There have been cases where that kind of thing has happened- oh, about 70 years ago or so. You can try out with permission, although you might not make the team. Would you mind if I called the Hufflepuff team captain?”

 

They shook their heads, and he waved his wand. There was a flash of silver light, and the faint shape of a… cat? Rabbit? Some small animal like that. It quickly disappeared, and Picani scribbled down something on a scrap of parchment. Man, this guy was always moving.

 

“What’s that?”

 

He smiled in their direction. “Permission, of course.”

 

They sat there agape. “What? Professor- you can’t be serious. That’s my first time on a broom- I can’t do that with homework and stuff.”

 

“Nonsense! You have two great friends to help you! Besides; you’re the perfect build for a seeker or a chaser. You’d be perfect at it. And for it being your first time- that’s serious talent. Who knows how far you could go?”

 

He fell silent, knowing the conversation wouldn’t get anywhere. A kid came through the door- a sixth year from the looks of it. “Professor? Your message said there was something I had to see?”

 

He saw the three of you. “Am I interrupting something?”

 

Picani waved him off. “No, No, Blake- this is the person I wanted to show you. He was in his first flying lesson, and he seems like a natural. Seeker material- and I know we don’t have one since Mildred graduated.”

 

He looked at them. “Which one?”

 

“Oh- the one in the middle. The other two are there for moral support.”

 

“Ah.” He looked at Virgil critically. Tilted his head. “Well, I’d have to see you out on the field kid, but you look like the right build for it. Light, speedy- You got a broom?”

 

Virgil shook his head. “Well, we’d have to get you one of those. Maybe a Cleansweep or Compass- I might have an old Starglider 11p stored in the shed you could try. Meet me at the pitch tonight before practice? We don’t usually have tryouts unless we have two vacancies- too much work to only find one person. We usually scout out the year they leave for any potential, but there wasn’t much last year. You got a name?”

 

“Uh- Virgil. Virgil Sanders. No, the three of us are not related.” He looked confused.

 

“They have the same last name. I might start calling you the Three Musketeers.” Picani explained, putting a finger to his chin in thought.

 

Patton clapped. “And Roman can be d’Artagnan! That’s perfect!”

 

Blake looked confused. “Okay…. so see you at the stands at eight Virgil. Hope you get in- we kind of need a good seeker. Thanks Professor- have a nice day. I have to get back to charms.”

 

He left the room. They waved at Picani and did the same.

 

Of course, as soon as they left the office Patton started squealing in joy.

 

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Today has been so exciting! And it’s only one in the afternoon! I can’t believe you might go on the Quidditch team! You could be famous! You’re the first first year in over a generation to be in the pitch!” He kept rambling, and Logan slipped away to go to the library. He soon came back with a faded and slightly torn book. Quidditch Through the Ages, huh? Well, knowing Logan it was sure to come in handy. He slipped it into his bag.

 

They bell echoed through the halls. Well, they had to get to Charms. They hurried to class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe. Quidditch will be... important later. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading, and have a great day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst angst angst!

Virgil found the pitch. Not like it was hard, seeing as it was massive- towering over him kind of massive and able to be seen from a hundred yards away- but he still felt proud of the accomplishment. Patton and Logan tagged along, and he was surprised to see Roman hanging out on the benches by the field. Why was he here?

 

He jumped up when he saw them. “Emo Nightmare! You won’t guess what happened-“

 

“You found out that a first year managed to get on a Quidditch team and, although the details of what house they are in were vague, you have deduced the answer based on a large category of clues. Well, what is it?”

 

He stared at Logan in shock before snapping back into reality. He pointed to Patton. “You!”

 

That sent all of them laughing until their ribs hurt and their throats were sore. Roman looked annoyed. “What? Was I wrong?”

 

Logan, who had been poised the entire time except for a small chuckle, pointed towards Virgil, who was still laughing his head off. Roman’s mouth fell open.

 

“You’re kidding. Really?” He looked from Logan to Virgil. “Really?!” Virgil stopped laughing enough to nod, then the look on his friend’s face sent him over the edge again.

 

Blake arrived, and the look of sheer befuddlement on his face made even Logan smile. “I’m sorry, but we’ve reserved this field-“

 

“Don’t worry about it Blake- they’re friends of mine. They won’t say anything-“ He narrowed his eyes at the others in a well-practiced expression. “-right?” The chill of his voice caused them to freeze in place and nod quickly. “That’s what I figured. Do you want me to do some warm-ups or…?”

 

He shrugged. “You can if you like. That’ll give me a chance to see what stuff you can do, and then I’ll bring out these-“ He held up a few yellow golf balls. “-for practice.”

 

He handed Virgil a broomstick and stood back. Virgil took a deep breath and kicked off.

 

It was just as wonderful as the first time but with less of the anxiety. He went around the pitch a few times, doing loops and rolls and things until Blake called him over.

 

“Well you definitely have the skills, I’ll give you that. What about the hand-eye coordination?” He threw a ball to Virgil’s right. He caught it without moving his eyes from the Captain.

 

Blake smirked. “Can you stay late to meet the team?”

 

He only caught a glimpse of the look on Roman’s face. Only later could he deduce its meaning- jealousy.

 

 

\---------

 

 

Months had passed. Somehow he’d managed to balance his schedule- and his first game was the next Friday. He was stressed.

 

But more than that Virgil was tired. He trudged downstairs to the common room, glad that he wasn’t a Gryffindor or Ravenclaw and he didn’t have to climb those stairs. Then he felt a hand grab his sleeve and he was dragged behind a column before he could pull out his wand.

 

It was Roman. Virgil relaxed. “Oh, I am so glad it’s you Princey.” Roman simply crossed his arms at him, leaning against the wall of their little alcove.

 

“Well?”

 

“Well what? I don’t-“

 

“How’d you do it?” He looked fed up. What had he done? Oh- of course. The Quidditch. Was he jealous?

 

“I don’t know? Roman, what’s going on?”

 

“How did you get on the team? There’s no way that was all that happened.”

 

What? Was he accusing him of something? “Roman, I don’t-“

 

“There hasn’t been a first-year Quidditch player in generations, much less a seeker. I would know- the last person was my grandfather. He was a Quidditch player, my dad was a Quidditch player, and I’m expected to follow in their footsteps. So how. did. you. do. it?”

 

Virgil blinked a few times. “I don’t know- they were desperate for a player and I happened to show up? What’s the big deal Ro-“

 

“My broom didn’t move an inch.” That shut him up.

 

“That idiot Slytherin acted all high and mighty and I couldn’t stop it. Then I hear rumors about this kid who managed to get on their house team- and I knew it wasn’t one of the Slytherins or Gryffindors- we were all in the same class. So I thought about it. The Ravenclaws are too absorbed in their books to care and you Hufflepuffs only had a few newcomers. So I focused on who I knew. Patton and you.”

 

The chances that that was who it would be on the team were slim- but he wouldn’t bring that up.

 

“I couldn’t hate Patton; he’s Patton. So I tried focusing on him because it wouldn’t hurt any of us. He has a similar build to you- he’d be a great Chaser. But you- you have the speed, agility, and tactics. I hoped I was wrong- that’s why I guessed Patton at the pitch ages ago. But it was you. Brilliant Virgil- smart enough to get into Ravenclaw, cunning enough to get into Slytherin, Brave enough for Gryffindor, kind enough to get into Hufflepuff. The first Hatstall in our generation. And a muggleborn to boot. I’ll admit- I envied you when I first met you- you all had such kindness even though we were destined to be in different houses. I tried to hate you, but you were so genuine- like that one angsty emo kid who tried too hard. So I settled for friendship.”

 

So that was what he thought of him? Huh.

 

“And it was so hard keeping this inside and to myself. You’d done nothing- if we had been enemies it would be easier but no- you made me into a friend when I had messed up on the train. You took my ego and my oddities and only saw them as good. But oh, I hated you sometimes. You were the perfect one, the smart one, the kind one- although that was mostly Patton. You are just so…. Relatable. You know your flaws and your strengths and you always know what the hell you’re doing. I just… the others fit into perfect boxes- the Logical one, the Emotional Cinnamon Roll- but you were unpredictable.” His voice lowered to a little above a whisper.

 

“So don’t go giving me that shocked expression. You knew what you were doing- baiting me with kindness, trying to trick me into becoming a friend so I would be miserable. Well I’m not going to take it anymore- and I’m sorry the hat mixed up your sorting…. Slytherin.”

 

He walked away as Virgil stood there, stunned. Roman disappeared from sight. His body moved on autopilot to the common room, and he let himself in.

 

 

He sat down on the couch and stared into the fire, numb. He started to laugh hollowly. What the hell? Roman couldn’t be serious-

 

Then it crashed down on him as he climbed into bed. Roman had been serious. He had called him a Slytherin. Granted, that wasn’t very serious to Virgil- he had been questioning his traits ever since he had come here- but to Roman that was the worst thing you could call someone. He had been compared to the likes of that idiot kid and the house full of dark mages. Granted, not all of them were bad- he had met a couple of okay ones- but still. Roman hadn’t. He had only met the Snakes- what they had ended up calling whatever-his-name-was and his groupies.

 

Well fuck. He had just lost a friend. And possibly made an enemy.

Fuck.

 

He definitely didn’t get any sleep that night. He was too busy worrying how his friends would take it.

 

Would he end up having any friends by the time this whole thing was over?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst angst angst!
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Have a great day! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to come out! I'm posting a lot of stuff and it seemed to have slipped my mind! Here's two chapters instead! Happy holidays!

He went to Transfiguration. Patton and Logan noticed his mind was elsewhere, and Patton wouldn’t drop the subject.

 

“What’s bothering you kiddo? I haven’t seen you this upset before. Logan, have you heard anything through the grapevine?” Great, talking as though he wasn’t here.

 

Somehow the studious and most logical of them all was securely connected to what they called the Grapevine- and therefore knew all of the buzz around school. He hoped nobody had pieced it together-

 

“Nothing substantial to the three of us, although Roman has acquired a group of new ‘friends’.”

 

You could practically hear the quotation marks around the word. Virgil was actually curious about this though. Patton beat him to the punch though, although his usually cheery friend looked hurt.

 

“Who?”

 

Logan shrugged, turning the pages of his book. “Most likely some Gryffindors. They are in the same house- it isn’t unreasonable for him to make more friends within his house.”

 

Virgil joined in. “You put a certain emphasis around the word ‘friends’- are these characters unsavory or unlike his usual company?” He had learned to speak to Logan as if he was a narrator in a documentary- clear, precise, and using more efficient word choices. And blunt; of course. It worked pretty well.

 

“They are all third years and on the Gryffindor Quidditch team- they have a reputation for being… ‘slackers’ in their classes, do correct me if that is the wrong word choice. Rather popular as well- known as the Four Horsemen. Not quite the company I would expect from Prince Charming over there.”

 

So he was trying to get into the ‘in-group’. Was that nickname a reference to the apocalypse? Virgil didn’t know whether to be impressed or concerned.

 

“Well I don’t trust them. They look weird.”

 

“One cannot just base someone off of appearance Patton.”

 

“No, Lo- they look dodgy. Mean. Like a bully I knew in school- they remind me of that Slytherin kid. Don’t know what his name is- Zachary? Something like that. I don’t like them.”

 

“I suppose the two of you could warn him about them in Potions later. Oh, there’s the Professor.”

 

And they spent the rest of the class trying to turn snails into marbles.

 

Virgil hoped something would happen before Potions- a meteor or an earthquake. Then he realized he had forgot to do his homework with all of the Quidditch practice.

 

“Aw, cr-udmuffins. I forgot to do the notes for Professor Cusco.”

 

Logan waved his wand, turning the snail into a large brown marble. He put it with the two he had already made.

 

“I can lend them to you over lunch Virgil. But do not let time get away from you again.”

 

Thank the universe for friends. Then he laughed as Patton knocked them all over the desk with his wand poised like a pool cue. Logan glared daggers at him as he summoned them back to his hand.

 

Heh. Thank the universe for friends.

 

He tasted something sour in his mouth as the nagging thought returned- what if they found out about Roman?

 

Then Professor McGonagall rapped on his desk. He realized he had been zoning. “Sorry Professor!” He tried to focus on his wand work. And his homework. And his problems.

 

He really wasn’t going to get much done today.

 

At least Potions class was right after lunch.

 

 

 

\-------

 

 

 

He and Patton went into Potions, sitting at their usual table. Roman’s chair was empty but that was usual for him- he usually came in a few minutes after they did. That was just enough time for Virgil to panic.

 

Those three minutes felt like years.

 

Then Roman came into the room, ignoring the two of them and talking adamantly with another Gryffindor- they both sat two tables behind them.

 

Snape came in, immediately noticing the seat change. He paused, then pointed to the two Gryffindors. “Sanders II, return to your original seat. I will have no drama in my classroom. Donleavy, you as well.”

 

They both slunk to opposite seats across the room, Roman pulling his chair away from the two of them to another part of the table; leaving a large gap between them. Virgil sighed silently. Of course this was going to dissolve into drama- Roman was the king of drama. If the boy wasn’t so determined to do well in Quidditch he would be a great actor.

 

Patton smiled. “Hey Roman!” He whispered with a small wave. Roman returned it with a small, if sincere, smile. Virgil said nothing, pretending to search his bag for his potions textbook and parchment.

 

“Hey Pat. How are you?” So he wasn’t going to acknowledge Virgil at all. Sigh….

 

“Not bad! I heard you made a few friends- I hope you’re happy! You seem very busy, that’s for sure. I haven’t seen you outside of class in days!”

 

Snape was sure to hear that- but the man seemed content hearing the drama unfold as he readied his ingredients. The porcupine. Or he just couldn’t hear them. No, he had better hearing than an owl.

 

“Yeah, I guess I am. Busy with schoolwork and all- how are you holding up with all of the Quidditch practice? You like seeing them practice. Doesn’t that leave you little time for homework?”

 

Virgil pulled out his book and set it down with a small slam, cutting the conversation off.

 

“Sanders IV, five points from Hufflepuff.”

 

“Sorry sir.” He felt the annoyance under his skin bubble, but he shoved it aside. He started preparing his ingredients as the others talked. They were lucky Snape was in a good mood.

 

“Yeah- I heard that you guys have a good chance for the cup. I haven’t seen ours yet, but the rumors are that it’s good. You guys are playing Slytherin next Friday, right?”

 

“Yeah- Virgil’s been practicing for ages this week- I’ve started to have to duck out though on watching the practices. All of the homework.”

 

“Well you wouldn’t want to put such stress on yourself you know. Say- next year one of the Chasers on your team is graduating- maybe you should try out.”

 

Patton chuckled. “Have you seen me on a broom? I’m really not very good.”

 

“Patton, you’re not that bad. You should try out.”

 

He heard his own voice join in. “Yeah Pat- you’d be great. All you need is some practice, and we’ll have a free spot next year. You’d be a great Chaser.” The stranger kept talking in his voice. “You have a great build for it- not to mention the team dynamic would work great too. I can ask Blake what he thinks.”

 

Wait- what? Him volunteering to put pressure on himself? Either he was hallucinating due to lack of sleep or he had the Imperius curse on him. Most likely the lack of sleep.

 

His body was on autopilot as he readied his potion ingredients. The stranger kept talking. Roman was glaring daggers at him. He felt woozy and stopped talking. The room spun for a minute, and he shook his head. Good- he was finally in control of himself.

 

“Sorry about that. Didn’t get much sleep last night. Worrying about the test in DADA tomorrow. I managed to do the notes at lunch- do you guys think you’re ready for it?”

 

Roman started speaking about the notes he had done- in glitterpen to boot. Patton’s eyes narrowed.

 

“I thought that was today?”

 

They all looked at each other, their personal issues forgotten. “Shi-ttake mushrooms.”

 

They all managed to save it at the same time. Roman buried his face in his hand.

 

“Okay then, we’ll get back to the subject later. It’s just getting tested on Ghouls and Zombies, and how they’re different, right?”

 

“Yep. If you’ve done the homework, you’ll be fine.”

 

“Oh, thank _goodness_. I was super worried for a second.”

 

 

\------

 

 

He was just turning in his test. It wasn’t all that bad either. Last class they’d taken a look at an actual ghoul too, so that was relatively easy to remember what the stuff was. Taking tests in pen was so much easier than quill- Hogwarts, you need to get your head in the game.

 

He sat back down in his chair and pulled out his latest book. Ghosts, Spirits, and their Abilities. Kind of dry, but good to know. Who knew what you’d want to know at a school with ghosts everywhere?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and have a great day!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand of course this chapter is mostly filler. Welp.
> 
> (I edited some things based on a comment- thank you by the way that was both really interesting and very helpful- and changed some things I hadn’t thought about because this is set five years before the books. They wouldn’t know Undertale music lol)

They were sitting at a picnic table outside by the lake. Some adventurous Gryffindors were poking one of the giant Squid’s tentacles as it lazily dozed in the water. Logan turned a page in his book.

 

“So how was your tests?”

 

Roman smiled. “It was rather easy! I was scared for nothing- how are you never that nervous Virge?”

 

 Virgil had to laugh. “Me, never nervous? Hah! I’m scared of everything. I have the nickname Anxiety for a reason. Shoot- I’d go by that if you all didn’t already know my name. That’s what I do at home.” He covered his mouth. He had _not_ meant to say that.

 

The three of them looked at him, confused.

 

“You don’t use your real name kiddo?”

 

“How does anyone identify you? This seems illogical.”

 

Virgil wiped at his face. “This has more to do with emotions than logic Lo. One of the reasons I’m so on edge constantly is because everyone knows who I am- and that’s something I hold very personally. You notice I didn’t tell you my name right from the beginning? That’s why.”

 

There was a few seconds of silence, then Roman slapped the table in realization. “Guys! We should make a band! I had the idea last night and completely forgot about it until now!”

 

“Roman, we were just talking about-“ Oh Merlin’s beard…

 

“YES!” Patton had gotten up and was jumping up and down in excitement. “I know how to do all sorts of instruments! Do you guys know how to play anything?”

 

“Yeah, I brought an instrument. But guys-“

 

“This is nonsensical-“ Logan tried to cut in.

 

“NONSENSE! This is a great idea! If we all know how to play something, we can create something out of it! And besides, we need to get out of this funk we’re in!”

 

“It’s only November- we still have plenty of time for everything-“

 

“It’s not that bad of an idea Virgil.” Logan admitted.

 

“What?! Logan- I don’t have time for this with Quidditch and school!”

 

“Then quit Quidditch. You seem dissatisfied, this is the perfect opportunity.”

 

“What?! Logan, I can’t! I promised-“

 

“Then stay until the next year. You don’t seem happy, and that is affecting the rest of your life. Try a year off- someone else will be happy to take your place. There are some good candidates.”

 

Virgil blinked. “O-Okay- but-“

 

“No buts Virgil. Relax.”

 

Roman and Patton giggled. “Buts.”

 

God, they were so immature. It wasn't like this was going to go anywhere anyway...

 

 

 

\---------

 

 

Virgil held his instrument. He had brought it with him so he could stay in practice, but now he was wondering if he regretted his decision. However, he didn’t have much of a choice. He met at their signature picnic table by the lake, glad that they had a few hours until curfew- nobody would be here tonight.

 

He sat on one of the benches, resting the instrument case on his lap. He opened it and plucked some of the strings, relieved that it was still tuned. He wondered if there was a spell for that to keep his instrument in good shape. He’d look later.

 

He readied his bow and did a few experimental bars. It wasn’t bad for sitting in the case for a while, but he tried to maintain it when he remembered. He set it aside as Logan approached with a small harp.

 

“Hello.”

 

“Heya. Nice harp.”

 

“Indeed. Do you play?”

 

“I’ve watched other people play, and I could probably figure it out with enough time, but not really. I just stick to strings and the piano.”

 

“Interesting.”

 

They both sat. Patton and Roman came over the crest of the next hill, Patton lugging something that looked heavy and bulky. Logan sighed as he watched them struggle with both of their instruments before pointing his wand and muttering something under his breath. They both flew out of their owner’s hands and were set neatly on top of the bench next to them.

 

They both jogged over, deprived of their burdens.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Greetings.”

 

“Heya kiddos!” Patton was panting as he hurried over to set up his instrument- a battery powered keyboard. Roman opened his case to an acoustic guitar. They all were silent as they set up their instruments. Virgil scooted over so Roman had room, eventually giving up and siting on the table so he had enough space to play. Patton took his over to the other bench and did a jaunty little practice song, one Virgil had played many times. He raised a brow.

 

“California Dreaming? Nice.”

 

Patton giggled and kept playing some other stuff. Roman looked up.

 

“Would you mind playing Whistle While We Work while we set up?” Patton nodded and played it. He had apparently done some research on Disney since they had first come here. Virgil searched his brain for the right placement and joined in. Patton faltered in surprise, but quickly caught up. Logan looked unruffled. Roman looked impressed.

 

They soon finished. “Do you know any other songs?” Patton shook his head.

 

“Sorry kiddo. I haven’t looked them up yet- I’ve just heard some of the music.”

 

Virgil shrugged. “Eh, that’s fine. I’ll play something else.” Logan brought them back.

 

“Not that that wouldn’t be fun, but what are we going to do? You never did say what our agenda was Roman.”

 

Roman grinned. “Well I thought we could write some songs!”

 

Virgil smirked. “Oh, so you want my crappy poetry in music form? No thanks.”

 

“Aw, come on kiddo! It’ll be fun! And besides, we can practice with covers for now and branch out into our own stuff later! This is just for fun.”

 

Virgil shrugged and did some random notes. Then he got an idea. It made his brain hurt. “I had an idea for a game, but we don’t have to do it if you guys don’t want-“

 

“Well it certainly beats sitting around here and doing nothing.”

 

He huffed. “I meant we could do the same song in different instruments by ear. It might be fun to record or something.”

 

They all looked impressed. “That could be fun.”

 

“That will be a showstopper! Get your camera ready Fiddler on the Roof!”

 

“It’s a violin.” He deadpanned.

 

“Yes, but that wouldn’t have worked there.”

 

“Technically they’re the same instrument, so I do not know why you’re arguing.”

 

The was a moment of silence. “Huh.”

 

”I feel like I should have known that.”

 

”It is a very common misconception.”

 

So, they talked and practiced for a while before breaking to do some homework and go to Quidditch Practice.

 

Maybe Logan was right- as much as he loved brooms he simply couldn’t juggle so many things.

 

He had a lot to think about.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Virgil was freaking out. It was his first match against Slytherin, and he was in the fetal position under the bleachers with Patton. Great job  there Anxiety. 

 

“It’ll be fine  Virge . Even if you don’t win, that won’t affect you too much. You will just be behind a bit on the Cup.” He patted his head like he was a dog. Somehow that helped him to calm down.

 

“It’s not that Pat. I don’t care about the Cup- I care about the others. What If I let them down? Logan was right- I should just quit.”

 

“Decide that later kiddo. Right  now all you can do is your best, and that’s what matters. I support you every step of the way.”

 

Man, he was having a dad-worthy speech by his best friend. What had his life become? Oh wait- magic. That explained everything.  He slid his wand into his robes and got up, resting his broom on his shoulder. 

 

“I guess. Thanks Pat.”

 

“Now go get ‘ em tiger.” 

 

He nodded, and hurried out to the rest of his teammates, who were receiving a speech from Blake. 

 

“Okay gang. This is it.”

 

Two of his other teammates- both fifth years and best friends, jumped in. Jericho and Apollo, he thought their names were.

 

“The one you’ve been waiting for.” They grinned. 

 

“The showdown against Slytherin.”

 

“You may win or lose, and that’s fine,”

 

“But the key component is to have fun.”

 

They waited for Blake to finish. One sidled over to him. “We’ve been here for years- he’s basically made the same speech every time. Good luck kid.”

 

Blake regained his voice with a glare in their direction. “And I know you all can do it- do I really make the same speech every time?”

 

The whole team nodded except Virgil. 

 

“Yes.” 

 

Blake shrugged. “Okay then. Let’s do this!”

 

And they ran out to the pitch. 

 

Soon enough they were in the air- and  apparently, they needed an announcer because Molly Dorran was speaking into the microphone. 

 

“I DON’T KNOW WHY THEY GAVE ME A MICROPHONE FOR THIS BUT OKAY! WELCOME TO THE FIRST QUIDDITCH GAME OF THE SEASON: HUFFLEPUFF VS SLYTHERIN! ”

 

A lot of people had their hands over their ears. Professor Picani shrugged as if to say- ‘I warned you and you didn’t listen.’ Someone took away the microphone. 

 

Molly shouted, now at a slightly lower volume. “OKAY Y’ALL , LET’S DO THIS ! THE SEASON HAS STARTED LATE BECAUSE OF ALL THE HORRIBLE WEATHER, BUT WE’RE HOPING FOR THE WEATHER TO BE BETTER, EVEN IF WE’RE STARTING LATER THAN USUAL!  BOTH TEAMS HAVE TAKEN INTO THE AIR AND THE BALLS  HAVE BEEN RELEASED. HUFFLEPUFF HAS A NEW SEEKER THIS YEAR, AND WE CAN’T  WAIT TO  SEE WHAT HE’LL DO! ANYWAY,  THE QUAFFLE IS IN THE POSSESSION OF HUFFLEPUFF’S CAMDEN FOOTE!  NOW 10-0!” 

 

Virgil focused on finding the snitch as  fast  as possible, blocking the commentary out of his mind for the most part. Both teams scored a few goals. Virgil saw a flash of gold- and a walnut-sized ball with small silver wings flew around one of the goalposts. 

 

He floored it. Well, as much as one could with a broom. He accelerated towards the goalpost, glad for the fact that the other seeker was on the other side of the pitch and wouldn’t be able to get there in time- 

 

-WHAM!-

 

A blur of green knocked into him and he was almost knocked  off of his broom as he careened through the air. 

 

How had the seeker gotten here so fast? !

 

An angry crowd was yelling- even some of the Slytherins. Virgil shook it off just in time to see the seeker dive for the snitch. 

 

He felt his vision grow red-hot. He yelled a somewhat  animalistic battle cry as he surged forwards and shoved him aside to grasp the snitch. 

 

He felt the gold brush against his fingers… and he jolted forwards, off balance by the sharp stopping of his broom by the hand that grasped the end.

 

And he was falling. He was falling.

 

He was falling. 

 

In that split second before he hit the ground he understood why Logan was afraid of flying. 

 

Then he felt unimaginable pain and he blacked out before he could feel more than the beginnings of the hot iron flood his veins and a sound like a bunch of pencils being snapped at once. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you can guess what will happen next. 
> 
> See you next time. Have a lovely day.~
> 
> (FUN FACT!: The reason Molly is so loud is a Sonorus charm that went wrong in her youth. She is always that loud. She's considered going to get it fixed but said screw it and everyone just has gotten used to it at this point.
> 
> And that was FUN FACTS!)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. There's death. And grieving. And crying. And a lot of general awkwardness. Just so you know. 
> 
> But hey, ghost shenanigans!

All he felt was fire and pain. He could barely get out a cry as something cool and soothing swept over him and he choked down some cool watery substance.  The sensation of his  fall into eternal suffering dimmed enough that he heard sobbing. He looked around to see himself detached from his body as if he was a ghost. He still felt a warm tingle all over his body, so he presumed he wasn’t  actually dead . He would rather stick around anyway, if only to be with his friends.

 

“Come on- he’ll be fine, right?”

 

“He- he fell- *sniff*- it- had to be- at least  fif \- fifty feet- and I don’t-“ The person collapsed into full out sobbing. He tried to wince and speak through his battered  meatsack of a  body, but he couldn’t get out more than a strangled groan. The person, he suspected Pat, kept sobbing. The person comforting him sounded like they were trying not to cry themselves. 

 

“Although it is unlikely for people to survive this kind of fall he will most likely recover given the magical remedies at our disposal. Cheer up Patton-“

 

“Cheer up?! CHEER UP?!” Patton was getting hysterical. Aw no-

 

‘Pat! Don’t get hysterical, I’ll be fine! I’m awake, see!’ He waved his hands and grew annoyed at the fact that they couldn’t see him.  ‘Pat! Shh- stop crying, I’ll be fine! PATTON SHUT UP I’M NOT DEAD!’

 

He just hovered there in the air, all but a translucent sliver of his body. Patton was still crying into Roman’s shoulder, and Logan was even wiping a few tears. 

 

‘HOLY HOT BISCUTS YOU GUYS ARE SO EMOTIONAL! I’M FINE- well, not dead and- PATTON STOP CRYING IT’S BUMMING ME OUT!’

 

He growled in exasperation when they didn’t see him. He tried to scatter some of the papers off his table but who would have guessed he’s incorporeal. Dammit.

 

A few more people came in, not at all surprised to see the three of them. Joan , a Ravenclaw, a nd a nice Slytherin named Talyn he’d met a month or so ago- and Professor Picani. 

 

‘Hey. Thanks for coming to see me. You have no idea how boring it NOT HAVING ANYONE HEAR YOU!’

 

He floated above their heads as they looked at his mummified (basically with  all of those bandages) body. Joan and Talyn left a card each to the growing stack on his bedside table.  Dang that was a lot of cards. Almost  ridiculous actually .  Picani replenished the flowers. Joan and Talyn smiled at the others but left them to their devices sadly.

 

‘OH MY GOD THIS IS SO BORING! Hello?! CAN NOBODY SERIOUSLY HEAR ME MERLIN’S BEARD!’

 

Picani’s brow furrowed like he had heard something but said nothing. 

 

‘PICANI I’M NOT DEAD!’ He screeched. Picani clasped his hands over his ears.

 

“Sweet cheese and crackers you are loud when you want to be! Could give Dorran a run for her money.” He poked a finger into his ear as he grumbled and opened his mouth as if to pop his ears. 

 

“What?! Professor, what’s going on? SWEET CROFTERS CAROLS!” Logan jumped back when he came into view floating upside down. “ Virge are you-?” He almost seemed scared to ask. Patton had a shocked expression on his face and was starting to shake. 

 

“I’M NOT DEAD YET SO STOP CRYING AND STOP MAKING ME DEPRESSED!” He ordered, his form flickering a darker purple. “I won’t stand for it so knock it off.” 

 

Patton continued to shake. Virgil recognized the signs. “ Oh shit guys back off-“ Patton curled up into the fetal position on the floor  hyperventilating  and Virgil immediately fell to his side. “Patton- Patton- I’m okay , I’m fine-“

 

“You’re a ghost, I wouldn’t call that fine.” Logan mumbled.

 

“Not helping Logan-  Patton just breathe it’s going to be fine. And hey- if I’m going to end up as a ghost that’s kinda cool right? Virgil the friendly ghost! Come on Padre cheer up , it’s all going to be okay. In for four.” He led him through some of the breathing exercises his friend had taught him and kept talking soothingly. 

 

The door from the opposite end of the wing burst open and Madame  Pomfrey hustled in, stopping short when she saw the scene- a teen crying on the ground and a ghost-like apparition of the kid in the bed comforting him. Her hand rose to her mouth. 

 

“No- no  no no no no no no…” 

 

Virgil looked over. “Madame  Pomfrey -“

 

“No  no no ! I always hated that stupid dangerous game-!” She buried her face in her  handkerchief . He eye d Roman , who edged closer and took his place by Patton. Virgil hovered over to her, realizing the tingling feeling had completely gone away.  So he really had died.

 

“Madame  Pomfrey it’s okay- it’s okay. It was relatively painless- you did everything you could do and not 

even magic could perform miracles.”

 

She just kind of sobbed. Picani swept over- he had actually kind of forgotten he was even here- and lay a hand on her shoulder, whispering something into her ear and leading her outside the way she had come.  

 

They all jumped as the main door to the wing slammed open and Dumbledore, McGonagall and- was that Snape? Along with an assortment of other professors- swept in arguing with a man he recognized as the Minister of Magic.

 

“ Cornelius , we must reconsider-“ Snape said, robes billowing dramatically.

 

“There are only so many thing s we can do-“ Dumbledore said, trying to placate all involved.

 

“Are you a fool Albus?! Are you condemning innocent children to death for the name of a sport?!” McGonagall was fuming, red in the face.

 

“There are a lot of factors in place-“

 

They froze when they saw the group huddled in the corner by where his bed had been. Virgil waved. “Hey.” He said casually. “Mind if I butt into the conversation?”

 

Another Ministry official- a toad-like woman dressed in a shade of pink so bright it made his eyes almost burn even through death- coughed. “Hem-hem… I don’t suppose the likes of an eleven-year-old know anything about the likes of politics Mr. Sanders. Wi th all due respect-“

 

“No, no, you don’t have any respect towards me. I saw that the minute you walked through the door. What I was mainly going to suggest was a revision of the rules of Quidditch in schools. They have to be rather lax seeing that multiple people have been injured in a school sport that should be as safe as  flying on broomsticks  can be. ”

 

Logan got up from the group on the floor, straightening his glasses. “Pardon the interruption, but he is correct. Multiple people have broken bones- ha ve had referees gone missing -“

 

“No, no you are correct.”  Fudge  sighed. “We must not go to any extremes. I will call a meeting with the council. Very sorry this whole thing has happened , of course .  We- we will get this whole thing straightened out. Sorry-“ He ducked out, the toad-like figure in pink scuttling out behind him. The staff stopped and stared. 

 

“Well then.” Snape straightened up with a nod that was about as friendly as he could get to Virgil. “Sanders IV; it was very enjoyable to have you in my class. I will see you around.” He swept out in a sweep of his black coat. He would have felt awkward if he understood that it was because they were talking to a teenager about dying. 

 

“Oh, Sanders-“  McGonagall raised a hand to her mouth in shock, tears almost filling her eyes. “I’m so sorry-“

 

He waved her off. “No, no. You don’t have the luxury to feel sorry. Just know that it probably hasn’t hit me  yet but I’ll still be perfectly fine at the end of it. Now, I was wondering something that I’ve heard from some of your classes.”

 

She peered at him through  red  eyes. “Yes?”

 

“Now, we hadn’t exactly gotten to that lesson, yet I am rather interested to know: How to Animagi work?” He settled down cross-legged in the air. She almost chuckled at his curiosity that was obviously to make her feel better. 

 

“Well, Sanders. You will be able to wander the castle like all of the other ghosts, won’t you?” She gave a watery rendition of her signature grin. “I will be moving that lesson  up to the next few weeks  if you want to join us. Now if you excuse me I must prepare some lesson plans . However, if any of you have need of anything-“ She settled almost a motherly glance upon the four of them. “Ju s t ask.” 

 

And she swept out of the room. 

 

The  four of them stood in the empty wing as the shadows grew long along the floor. 

 

 

\-------

 

 

Virgil popped up in the Gryffindor common room, amazed at the sense of home he felt. “Wow, this place is nice.”

 

Roman jumped. “Virgil! You almost made me upset my ink!”

 

Virgil shrugged, floating over to perch weightlessly on his shoulder. “So  what’cha doing?”

 

Roman groaned. “My History of Magic essay. You’re lucky you don’t have to do homework.” 

 

“Want some help? I sat through a few of his classes today.”

 

“Really?” The look Roman gave him was one of incredulity. Virgil laughed. 

 

“Yes, really. Unlike you, I actually enjoy learning.” He looked over his essay. “What you have looks  good, but you forgot the bit that he said about how hard it was to actually create a spell. I’d add that bit, but other than that I think it’s better than 95% of your class.”

 

“Thanks nerd.”

 

“No problem Drama-turd.” Roman looked affronted. 

 

“It’s dramaturg, but I respect the reference.” 

 

“Okay Captain Jack ,  don’t forget to go to Potions .” Virgil sunk into the floor with a salute before anyone else saw him as Roman ran out of the room . He wandered into the library. 

 

Madame Pince looked him over carefully. “Are there any books I can get you?” He shook his head. 

 

“No thank you, but I appreciate the offer. I’ll look through ones that are already out to save you the trouble.”

 

He floated above tables until he saw one with books left out while the students had vacated. Rude, but helpful. Ooh, they were third years too- he was looking forwards to reading these…

 

He flipped through the pages  with the limited abilities he had- he was no Peeves after all. The poltergeist was  actually kind of entertaining to talk to though. A bit mad, but hilarious none the less. 

 

He read until a new group came in to study. Ooh, tests were a bitch. He left them to their devices and thanked Madame  Pince on the way out.

 

He had some  hauntin ’ to do. 

 

A ghost had to have some fun, didn’t they?

 

He turned invisible and fl ew through the castle. He s aw Filch and slow ed down, thinking. He’s always wanted to do this… He stay ed invisible until he’s almost at Filtch. 

 

“’ Scuse me please.” And he zoomed through the man, internally giggling at the look of horror on the man’s face. He immediately  went invisible again and heads down to the dungeons , laughing his ass off . 

 

 

\------

 

 

Snape  was teaching them how to brew a n anti-boil potion. He observe d the instructions, hovering over a book to take in the instructions. Should he interrupt… eh, better safe than sorry. So, he watched the class from the air above the Sanders table. Well, Patton and Roman anyway.

 

They worked together to make the potion when Virgil realized something. He popped down and whispered to Roman, who was less likely to disrupt the class by jumping halfway across the room. 

 

“Don’t forget to take the cauldron off the fire before adding the quills mate.” He smiled as Roman immediately turned off the fire before adding the quills. 

 

“Thanks,  Virge .” Roman whispered. He shrugged, fully appearing in a floating position like he was attending class. 

 

“Hey, I might be dead but even I can learn something.  S tir it while you prepare the bottles , Pat .” Roman shrugged but acquiesced.  By now the attention of the class was upon them, but Snape didn’t say anything other than-

 

“Sanders if you wish to participate in class do come at the beginning next time. This is your only warning.”

 

Virgil looked up. “Of course, Professor.  Sorry  for any disturbances I might have caused. I just figured we all would rather that no cauldrons exploded.” He said, wavin g a hand in the direction of the nearest cauldron, where they were about to add the quills as the fire roared. The fire turned off and the cauldron cooled slightly before the quills hit the surface with a burst of ghostly wind . The two Hufflepuffs looked at him gratefully.

 

Snape nodded before looking at the rest of the cauldrons. Virgil let out a breath- he didn’t really need to breathe but it was relaxing- before turning back to the other two who had neatly poured and stoppered the vials they had made.

 

They high- fived and laughed when his arm passed neatly though. Whoops, he ’d forgotten about that. 

 

Class ended, and they went to lunch. 

 

 

\----------

 

 

He could finally wander between the tables without anyone caring! This was great- he could go sit with Roman or Logan or Patton, as he usually did- but he could go say hello to Talyn or Joan or-

 

“Hello.” Oh. Him. 

 

He turned towards the Slytherin. “Yes, hi. Can I help you Zachary?”

 

“It’s Dee.” 

 

“Pardon? I didn’t know that we were on a first-name business since you killed me and all.”

 

He looked taken aback. “What? I didn’t-“

 

“You’re a  metamorphmagus and I learned since then that the actual seeker was in the hospital wing with a six-foot-long tongue. What do you want?”

 

He looked away, hair reddening slightly. “I just wanted to say that it was an accident. I just wanted to stop you and-“

 

“Yeah, I-“ Virgil wiped a hand over his face and sighed. “Okay. Okay, let’s start this from the beginning. I’m Anxiety.” He reached out with his hand, and Dee reached out and  tried to take it, settling for holding his hand in midair like he  w as shaking his iceberg of a , incorporeal hand.

 

“Deceit.” The look in the other’s eyes showed that he understood way more than he let on about the nickname. They shared a small smile. 

 

“Well Deceit, I’ll  probably  see you in Charms if I pop in .” He waved, floating away. He hoped the others didn’t mind that he missed lunch- it was just rather boring when one couldn’t eat. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one! I need to write a bit more on this, so it might be a while until the next chapter, but I hope you enjoy this one.

He few out of the wall next to the Charms classroom, deciding to pop in a learn as much as he could other than reading the book. He waved to Talyn, who was leaning next to a Hufflepuff and chatting about bats. They waved back. 

 

He was distracted by someone walking through him. Oof, that must have been freezing… He drifted into the room and sat at his desk next to Patton, who seemed rather… energetic. Oh god he hoped nobody had fed him sugar… 

 

“Hey Pat. Sorry about missing lunch. I ended up having a conversation with someone that took longer than expected.”

 

“It’s all good kiddo!”

 

“Say, Patton, did you by any chance have any sugar? You’re looking… energetic to say the least.” 

 

Patton shrugged but kept bouncing in his seat. Virgil sighed. Yep. Totally sugared up. He was going to have a chat with Dorran about that- he was almost sure he’d been slipped way more sugar than he needed. 

 

Jeeze, he was acting a lot like Patton. He hoped he hadn’t rubbed off of him too much. He really didn’t need to get that attached to cats- Patton had even tried to hug Ms. Norris even though he was allergic! They were lucky only one person in Hufflepuff had a cat- he really needed to research if there was a potion to-

 

“Hello class! Today we will be covering mending charms!” Virgil zoned out a bit- Logan had taught him a mending charm after he’d accidentally stepped on Logan’s glasses. Man, that was rather entertaining in hindsight. 

 

Soon enough the rest of the class was breaking small plates with tiny hammers and putting them right again.  _ “Reparo.” _

 

Huh, since he was a ghost, could he do wandless magic? Do ghosts have a natural magic field like normal wizards since they are made of magic? Was there a whole field of study for ghost magic if they could do it? 

 

He had to talk to Sir Nick about it. Or maybe he could just ask Flitwick- or maybe that was Cusco’s level of expertise?

 

“What’s up kiddo? You look a million years away.” Patton waved his wand, and the pieces moved back together again. 

 

“Not much Pat, just thinking about ghost magic logistics.”

 

Patton looked confused before the lightbulb flipped on in his head. “OH! Like if they can do magic and stuff?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much.”

 

Patton broke the plate again and stared at the pieces as the bell rang. “I guess it’s possible? I don’t really know much about ghosts. Maybe Logan could help?”

 

He thought. “Yeah, maybe.”

 

He was drawn from his train of thought by a green-robed figure sitting next to them. Patton looked confused. The class had ended-?

 

“Zachary? If there anything we can help you with?”

 

“Oh, me? No, no, I just wanted to help you. I overheard your conversation earlier-“ The teen dug through his bag and pulled out a book. “-and I wanted to help. I found this in the library-“

 

“No thanks.” Patton’s voice was cold, masking all emotion. Deceit’s eyes darkened, although Virgil noticed something buried in there. Was he actually feeling sorry?

 

“Alright then. Anxiety, if you change your mind feel free to tell me any time.” 

 

With that he was gone, out the door in a swirl of robes. Patton  _ reparo _ -d the plate and put it away before standing. 

 

“Will you be coming with us to Potions?”

 

Virgil thought for a minute. “Ehhh… I might pop into another one later. I’m going to go mess with Filch again. See you at lunch, if not sooner?”

 

Patton smiled, although the edges looked kind of sad. “Okay kiddo! See you then.”

 

And he was gone. Virgil flickered then turned invisible, floating towards the ceiling so he wouldn’t freeze any of the students coming in. 

 

His eyes opened wide in realization as his brain caught up with his surroundings. He shot off towards the hallways, scanning the students for familiar faces in green robes. 

 

No, no, no, no, no, well dang, he was surrounded by other people in green. 

 

He did say any time though…

 

Screw it. He floated down and flickered into visibility. “Hey, you end up changing your mind about the book?”

 

Deceit turned around and smiled with his eyes. “Oh, not at all. Is there anywhere you’d like me to put it? I’m on my break period.”

 

“Oh, you’re talking to the ghost kid? Virgil, right?”

 

“Hey Virgil!”

 

He nodded at Talyn. “Hey Tal. Isjo. You mind if I steal ol’ Zachary over here, right?”

 

“Nope, it’s cool. See ya around Dee.”

 

Cool. So he could call him Deceit. What was his real name anyway? Eh, he supposed it didn’t really matter. 

 

“Do you want this in your common room?”

 

Oh, yeah. “Uh- if you don’t mind. I can let you in- I know how to get in and stuff.”

 

“Cool.”

 

They walked towards the kitchens in silence. 

 

“Do you know how to get into the kitchens? You’re right here, so it makes sense if you do-“

 

“You just tickle the pear. It’s this massive painting near the end of the hallway. Big basket of fruit. Here we are! Do you mind knocking on that barrel three times? The one labeled vinegar.”

 

He did. The barrel slid open, revealing the passageway. 

 

“Thanks.” He gestured for Dee to go first, and he did. Virgil drifted through next. “You can put it on one of the bookshelves if you want, or on my old bed if you prefer.”

 

“Where will it get less disturbed? What exactly can you do regarding objects, anyway?”

 

“I can flip the pages, but not really lift it. Maybe on this table over here? You can’t really use it for homework because it’s so small, and I can probably just ask Patton to move it later if it’s in anyone’s way.”

 

Dee took out the book and set it gently on the table, looking at the common room. “It’s very bright in here.”

 

“Yeah. Kind of off-putting, all that brightness. What’s the Slytherin Common Room like?”

 

“It’s under the lake. You can see the light through the water and it’s all pretty much just washed in a green light the whole time. Kind of spooky if it wasn’t so warm from the fires literally everywhere. It’s all torched up with green fire and there are snake etchings everywhere. Here work?”

 

“Yes, thanks. You’re not that bad of a person, you know that?”

 

Dee blinked at him. “Why do you say that?”

 

Virgil shrugged. “I dunno- you’re apologetic. Almost nice. Makes quite a change from some of the stuff I’m used to.”

 

“You have quite the group of friends.” Dee groused.

 

“Well sure, but not everyone’s that nice. It’s nice to have a change. Sorry about Patton by the way. He’s not normally like that.”

 

“Yeah, I- it’s probably mostly my fault. That first day with the mudblood stuff- I think it hit some of his buttons. I may be a pureblood but that’s no excuse to be an ass about it. There’s enough of those in my house anyway.”

 

“True enough.”

 

They stood in silence. 

 

“I should probably get working on my homework.”

 

“If you need any help, feel free to ask? I kind of drop into a lot of classes on a whim, so I might be able to…” He drifted off. A small smile almost seemed to curl on Dee’s face. 

 

“Sure. Thanks. If you need me to move anything, feel free to ask.”

 

And he was gone, the portrait hole swinging shut behind him. 

 

Slytherins weren’t all that bad. 

  
  


\--------

  
  


Virgil took the rest of the day to relax. He popped down for lunch and talked with he others, but the classes looked kind of boring for the rest of the day. Just Transfiguration, and they were going to cover animagi next class so… he could just pop into another one. 

 

He was able to play records if they were already in the turntable, so that was nice. 

 

He listened to Herb Albert for most of the day as he flipped through the book Dee had gotten for him. It had a few things he thought were good to note. 

 

Ghosts did have an ambient magic field, seeing as they were made of magic. 

 

What poltergeists could do was also classified as what living wizards would call accidental magic, so technically if one could manage to control that… there was a possibility of being able to do wandless magic. Of course, that inherently had its flaws, but magic was magic it itself, the difference being in how it was used. 

 

Maybe he should talk to Logan about this… he was sure to find it interesting. 

 

“Hey kiddo!” He looked up from his book and waved a hand at the record player, the needle starting it back at the beginning. 

 

“Hey Pat. How was your day?”

 

“Lots of homework, but other than that pretty good! I don’t suppose you know much about the first Goblin wars, huh?”

 

Virgil shook his head. “Not really. When is it due?”

 

“Wednesday. So, I have a few days.”

 

“I can probably pop into one of his classes tomorrow if you want some help. Need any help studying for finals? They’re in a few months.”

 

Patton groaned. “You too? Logan’s getting all up in our case about it. I think I’m just going to go and work outside. Roman said he was going to go chill by the lake if you want to come.”

 

“Sure. Ya mind grabbing this book for me?”

 

“Of course!” Patton looked at it as Virgil stuck in a bookmark. “This that book Zachary was talking about?” 

 

“Yeah. I figured I might as well get as much information as possible. He did seem like he was trying to help. He’s not that bad, just a bit stuck-up.”

 

Patton pursed his lips and picked up the book. “Not a decision I would have made, but if you’re sure. What kind of stuff are you learning?”

 

“Not much. Although I did learn that it might still be possible for me to do magic. It has to be wandless for obvious reasons, but the fact that it’s possible is still cool, right?”

 

“Really? That’s great! You can still participate in class and stuff, and maybe even be able to move things with  _ Wingardium Leviosa _ !”

 

“Yeah. I haven’t really been able to do much, but I have been practicing with the record player. Moving the needle is hard enough.”

 

“What about the pages? You’ve been reading all day, haven’t you?”

 

They moved through the courtyard. Virgil nodded. “Yeah. I think it has more with how much force it takes. Flipping pages doesn’t take all that much force, ergo, it’s pretty easy. Putting on a record is slightly harder, meaning it takes more effort to do magically. I guess it’s going to take a while to be able to do stuff like shield charms or  _ reparo _ s or anything.”

 

“Keep in mind kiddo that you basically have to learn it all again. It’s like working on improving a muscle. You have to be patient and trust that you will be able to do it eventually. Besides, it’s not like we can just try out a spell once and be able to do it either. It takes practice for everyone.” 

 

“Right. Thanks Pat.”

 

They saw Roman and Logan sitting at a picnic table ahead, homework spread out around them. Logan was trying to convince Roman to use a study schedule. Roman was hearing none of it. Virgil floated over, hovering over their heads with an air of amusement. 

 

“Hey, do you think if a metamorphmagus became a ghost they could shapeshift as a ghost too?”

 

Logan blinked. “Possibly, because they inherently have the same magical composition. Why do you ask?”

 

“Oh, you know, just dreading the possibility of staying 4’8’’ forever and wishing I had alternatives. It’s not all that tall you know.”

 

Patton looked up at him in disappointment. “You’re focusing on the fact that you’re going to be short forever rather than the fact that you can fly, turn invisible, and serve as an infinite air conditioner in the summer?”

 

Virgil shrugged as he looked over Logan’s shoulder at the book he was reading for Potions. “Yeah, basically.”

 

“That certainly sounds a lot like you Emo-Nightmare. You’re lucky you don’t have to study for finals.” Roman groused. 

 

“Well, you kind of can’t do them when you can’t hold the quill. Nice to not have to worry about it though. What are you guys working on?”

 

“Potions essay.” Logan supplied. 

 

“Oof. But hey, after the finals you have summer to sleep in and not worry about it. I wonder what Hogwarts ghosts do over the summer… They probably have the wildest parties.”

 

They all paused for the image of Peeves and Nearly Headless Nick having a dance off with Moaning Myrtle drinking ghost punch and Bloody Baron trying to flirt with the Grey Lady. Roman shuddered. Logan wrinkled his nose. 

 

“With that image stuck in my head I’m going to go do some research in the library. Patton, didn’t you wish to talk with Professor Cusco about-“

 

“Oh yeah! I’ll walk with you there!”

 

They walked off after Logan gathered his papers, leaving the two of them there staring at the water. 

 

“So, Princey, what’s on your mind?”

 

Roman jumped, looing at Virgil in surprise. “What do you mean? I’m fine!”

 

“And denial is a river in Egypt. What’s up?”

 

“Oh, you know. Stuff.”

 

He hummed in agreement and looked out to where a Gryffindor fourth year was messing with the giant squid, his red hair back in a small ponytail. His older brother was telling him random facts about the squid, and another first year was yelling at the two of them, red in the face. Virgil had to smirk at the sight. Ah, the Weasleys were back at it again. Thank god there were only three of them. Percy was like Logan with no chill. 

 

“Well, if you want to talk, I’m all ears.”

 

They sat there for a few seconds, staring out at the lake. 

 

“Why aren’t you sad about it?”

 

Virgil blinked. “What, me being a ghost?”

 

“Yeah. You’re just so chill about it- like it wasn’t a big deal that you died. Don’t you have family or anything? Friends outside of Hogwarts? People you can visit and be all like: hey, I’m a ghost and I’m going to mess with you for fun because I can? Are you trapped here because you died here? I don’t know anything about what you’re going through, and I want to make sure you aren’t actually really messed up because of it.”

 

Virgil looked at him and smiled. “You’re a good person Ro. As for family and friends, well, simple answer is no.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah, well, I’m not too bothered by it anymore. You guys are cool enough to stick by me even though I died, so I don’t think many other people can top that, can they? And even if I was stuck in Hogwarts, which I don’t think I am because ghosts aren’t really tethered to a place unless they’re haunting someone, it’s not all that bad here. The people are cool, Peeves can’t mess with me now that I’m a ghost, I can learn and stuff… well, and I can mess with Filch. That’s inherently a huge bonus.”

 

Roman gave a laugh. “He really hates you, you know.”

 

“He really does. Shoot- Snape’s pretty chill about me popping into class when I’m not invisible. Bains doesn’t give a crap. McG is honestly glad to have me still in her classes after all of the things that happened, I heard through the Weasleys that there might be work being done to strengthen the Quidditch safety measures in the Ministry, and I think I might eventually be able to move stuff with magic, so… life, or, well, death- is pretty good.”

 

“Okay then.” Roman gathered his things. “I think I’m going to go study in the library. Do you want to come or…”

 

Virgil smiled. “Sure.” 

 

Roman walked him to the library, managing to keep his spirits up. He helped them study for their tests, and even managed to get Logan to laugh at a joke. 

 

It wasn’t until he was sitting in the common room at 3 AM that he broke, his façade crumbling down. 

 

He was so lost… 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter! I meant to post this a week ago but I had to post something else and it kinda got forgotten.... 
> 
> But! Here it is now!

He hid away from the others for days. He just… didn’t want to deal with them right now. Or anyone, really. It wasn’t until Peeves managed to annoy him enough for him to pay attention to the present did he notice that they all looked… unstrung. Like the glue keeping them together had disappeared, leaving them to fall apart. 

 

Patton tried. He really did. Virgil knew that. The puffball stayed up until late hours of the night making sure everyone was alright, and happy, and not working too hard. He had his own walls too. Virgil shouldn’t be keeping them away. They didn’t deserve it. He knew that, and that somehow made it worse.

 

But he was so tired… and lost, and confused, and just… feeling listless. 

 

It wasn’t until he practically hear the shadows humming did he realize that ghosts just needed to sleep. Less than the average person, but they needed to recharge nonetheless. 

 

He felt a lot better after taking a nap. 

 

Good enough to… actually socialize for once. 

 

He zoomed down to where the three of them were trying to work on homework by the lake, with little success. 

 

“Uh, hey guys.”

 

“ _ VIRGIL! _ ” Patton and Roman cheered.

 

“Salutations.” Logan looked more relieved than his usual expression, so he’d take it as a win. 

 

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry for, well, disappearing for like three days. It turns out that ghosts actually need sleep. Didn’t realize that until the shadows started humming. So… I wanted to apologize for basically being an ass the last little bit.”

 

“That’s alright kiddo! Just remember to make sure you tell us before you disappear off the face of the earth for three days straight. We were getting a little worried.”

 

“Yeah, it wasn’t until Peeves actually managed to get my head out of my arse that it worked, really. He’s surprisingly good at making you question your life choices.”

 

Logan was slack-jawed. He pointed at Virgil. “So YOU’RE the one he’s been singing about!”

 

Wait, what? “Wait, what?”

 

“He’s been flying around the castle day in and day out, singing at the top of his lungs- ' _ That Mister Humbungness, get out of your slouch, stop being a mungus and get off the couch.' _   I have to say, not one of his best rhymes. The use of the word mungus is rather impressive however.”

 

Roman narrowed his eyes. “Mun-gus?”

 

“Commonly referred to as a mixture of mold and fungus.”

 

Virgil wrinkled his nose. “Oh.”

 

Roman looked offended. “Yeah, oh. Rude.”

 

“You have to say, it’s a pretty decent rhyme.” Patton said, shrugging.

 

“Mister Humbugness. I like that. I’m going to use that now. You guys working on the History of Magic Essay?”

 

Patton groaned and Roman nodded. Logan rolled his eyes. “If they had only studied with my schedule we wouldn’t be having this discussion. It is merely a summary of the last unit.”

 

Virgil looked at them. “I told you that you should listen to him. I can’t pop into every class. You’re lucky I find History of Magic interesting.”

 

“How could you find that interesting?! He just drones on and on and on-!” Roman complained. “I mean, sure, him coming through the chalkboard is pretty cool, but he just talks and talks and talks… we don’t even have to read the book in class! We just do that for homework!”

 

“Dude. It’s magic. I’m pretty sure the novelty just still hasn’t rubbed off of me yet.”

 

“But it’s so… boring! Sure, magic’s cool and all but I don’t think it’s that interesting!”

 

“You grew up a wizard Princey. I didn’t. Simple as that.”

 

Roman groaned. He knew this wasn’t a fight he’d win. “Fine… _*sigh*_ alright. Now who won the third goblin war again?”

 

Both Patton and Logan inhaled to tell him the answer, but Virgil broke in. 

 

“Who had the sword encrusted with garnets and rubies?”

 

Roman answered in a second. “Lord Garneth the VIII.”

 

He nodded. “There you go. His army won because he had the cool sword. Why else did he win?”

 

Logan answered instead. “He traded with the local mer village for supplies that outranked his opponents.”

 

Virgil grinned. “Yep. Patton, what did they do afterwards?”

 

“A peace treaty, which failed.”

 

He gestured for him to go on. “Why?”

 

Patton frowned. “Because the other side allied with the giants. They were under pressure to fulfil their side of the bargain.”

 

Virgil gestured to the book in Roman’s lap. “Mm hmm. Pass that over, would you?”

 

Roman slid it over and he flipped the pages as he hovered above it. 

 

“And they ended up fighting the fourth goblin war under the guise of a territory battle. End of Chapter. We’re covering the fifth war next week and then finals so… that’s the overview. Anything else?”

 

“Nope. I think that’s it. Thanks Virge.”

 

He sat back. “No problem. If I have one thing it’s plenty of time to learn stuff. Besides, as boring as his class is the books are interesting. Oh, hey, there’s Dee. He’s been getting some of the books for me.”

 

Patton looked up and saw his usual group of Slytherins. “Him? You’re hanging out with him?”

 

He blinked. “Yeah? He’s a pretty cool person dude. As stuck up as he is sometimes he doesn’t mean any of it. Kind of like Romano here.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“You cannot excuse him for his actions on the train.”

 

He winced. “Maybe not. But I’m working on it. He’s not being that bad lately. I mean, he seems to be trying to make up for it.”

 

Logan tilted his head at his answer. “I shall have to gather more data. I should be a perfect candidate, no?”

 

“What do you mean calculator watch?”

 

Logan blinked. “My family is that of blood traitors. I would be an acceptable target.”

 

“I- what?” Roman seemed at a loss for words. Logan adjusted his glasses. 

 

“Um, no. Logan, you are not trying to get yourself bullied. Just gonna stop you right there.”

 

“There is no guarantee-“

 

“Don’t care. Just no. Why don’t you just sit down at his table one morning for breakfast or something? It’s not that hard.”

 

“That is something to take into consideration.”

 

“You don’t have to make everything hard, jeeze Sherlock.”

 

Logan grumbled but went back to his notes. “It was a decent strategy…”

 

“Not to say not really but… not really. Now, what else do you guys have to do before finals?”

 

More groans as they remembered. Logan rolled his eyes. 

 

“We literally just have to study Potions, DADA, and Transfiguration. There is no reason to worry.”

 

“Well you’re smart Logan! We’re not!”

 

“Hey! Patton’s smart!” Virgil objected.

 

Roman made an offended noise and they all burst out laughing. 

  
  
  


\-------------

  
  
  


Logan, Roman, and Patton came out of their last examination of the day to see Virgil hunkered down by the wall outside the door with a massive stack of books around him. 

 

“Virgil?”

 

He hummed. “How was your exam?”

 

“Last one of the day. Whatcha working on?”

 

“Research. The books have a featherlight charm on them. Nice and easy to lift.”

 

A pen danced in his other hand across a piece of parchment. He was getting good at this. 

 

“Who put that on? It’s… I think that’s a third-year charm? Fourth? Logan, do you remember?”

 

“I don’t, although I am astounded as to why I didn’t think of it before. I shall perform it on whatever you like me to, Virgil.”

 

“Blame Flitwick for thinking of it first. Incantation’s in that book I got you for Christmas by the way.”

 

“Excellent. Do you want to move your studying outside?”

 

“Sure.”

 

They all gathered up the books and moved outside, Virgil immediately opening up his book and notes once they reached their usual picnic table. 

 

“What are you researching?”

 

Virgil slid over one of the books. Logan picked it up. “Gadding with Ghouls? By Gilderoy Lockhart? You’re a ghost. Not a ghoul.”

 

“No, but it does have a small section on his work with ghosts. I also picked up Confronting the Faceless-”

 

“That’s a NEWT level book!”

 

“-The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Preservation, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them-”

 

“You’re a ghost, not a beast.”

 

“A bunch of fourth and fifth year books, and a few other things.”

 

A moment of silence. 

 

“Dude. Why aren’t you in Ravenclaw?”

 

Virgil shrugged. “I find problems, not solve them. And book smarts aren’t everything. There’s street smarts too. I prefer Hufflepuff anyway. Less stay up until 3 AM studying, more drink some hot chocolate and listen to this cool record I ordered.”

 

“I want to be in Hufflepuff.” Roman decided.

 

“Finally, you do have some sense.”

 

“VIRGIL!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea when the next one will be out- maybe in a few weeks depending on how much I write??? This is the second-to-last chapter of first year tho. I can tell you that much. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and have a good day!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! It'll probably be a while before the next chapter because they're kind of hard to write and I don't have a chapter buffer right now, but I will get it out! Eventually. 
> 
> In the meantime, have some shenanigans!

They sat on the picnic table, a heavy silence spreading over them. 

“It’s our last evening. We have to go out on the train tomorrow.”

“I know.”

More silence. Then a small sniff from Patton. 

“How will we stay in touch with you Virge?”

A moment of silence before Virgil’s eyes lit up and he practically flung himself at the charmed bag he’d persuaded Flitwick to make to hold all of his books. 

They watched him in confusion as he dragged out a notebook and flipped through it, muttering under his breath. 

“What are you looking for Virge?”

“Do you know Runes, Logan?”

A beat of silence. “Yes, why-?”

“I think I have an idea.”

 

\----------

 

Roman fingered the small addition to the braided bracelet Patton had made him. A set of intricate, delicate runes covered the small rectangle of leather. They sat in a small room they’d found off the fifth floor. Just as Logan carved the last rune into his own-

The bracelets, and Virgil, all flashed purple for a second before returning to normal. 

Virgil recoiled as if he’d felt something, shaking his head slightly. 

“You okay?”

“You’re alright kiddo, right?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. It just took me a second. Huh. Those cords match you guys.”

A beat. “What cords?”

Virgil looked up from where he’d been looking down at something. “You guys don’t see them? Weird. Princey, you have a red cord that’s attached to your bracelet. Logan, yours is a dark blue. Patton, yours is a light blue. It matches your bracelets.”

“Can you feel them?”

Virgil reached out and gave something they couldn’t see an experimental yank. Logan stumbled forwards a bit. 

“Woah.”

“Could you use that to pull us out of the way of things?”

“I dunno. Maybe.”

Logan looked at his watch. “It’s time.”

Silence. 

“Well then let’s go!” Patton said with forced cheer. “All of our things are delivered, yeah?”

“Did it this morning.”

“Then onwards! To vacationing!”

They laughed at Patton’s antics as they made their way down the stairs.

 

\---------

 

They had just made it onto the train, Virgil both invisible and intangible, when there was a commotion outside.

_ “Where’s Virgil Sanders?” _

But the train was already pulling away. Virgil had the audacity to stick his torso out of the window and wave at a flabbergasted McG and a furious Snape. 

“See you guys next year!”

 

\---------

 

“So where should we keep you for the holidays?”

“What do you mean?”

Logan crumpled up his gummy slug wrapper. “Well, Virgil can’t exactly go galavanting off alone. Anyone have parents cool enough with having a ghost for the holidays?”

There were a few beats of silence. Roman spoke first.

“I’m a halfblood, so although my mom is cool about this sort of thing I think she’d flip if I didn’t give her any warning.”

Virgil grinned. “That reminds me. We should introduce Patton to Disney this summer.”

“You, my friend, are a genius. What about you Pat?”

“Uh- my dad would be cool with it if I managed to give him any warning, but…”

“Yeah, I figured.” Patton’s dad had been the subject of many a discussion- his work in the Auror Office had hit the papers a few times.

Logan thought for a second. “Both of my parents would probably be alright with it. I might end up getting grounded for a week or two for the lack of warning, but they’re both magical. Besides, I think the library would get a lot of use that way.”

“What do you mean?”

Logan grinned. “My family just so happens to have an unpublished series of journals about ghosts written by my great-uncle.”

Silence. “You couldn’t have them shipped here why?”

“Wards. If they left the property they’d spontaneously combust.”

“Metal.”

“Actually, they’re made of paper.”

A beat of silence. “Did you just make a joke?”

“Nonsense. Chocolate frog?”

Patton accepted the candy and grinned. 

 

\---------

 

Virgil turned invisible and intangible until Logan went home. 

“Uh- hey mama?”

The woman driving looked at Logan through the mirror. “Yes honey?”

“Would you be opposed… if a friend of mine spent the summer over?”

A frown. “I would have appreciated a little more notice, Lo.”

“I know. I’m sorry mama. It’s just… his situation is a little complicated.”

“How so?”

“He’s a ghost, mama.”

A few seconds of silence. 

“Pardon?”

“He’s a ghost mama. He’s dead. He died in a freak Quidditch accident.”

“How old is he?”

“My age.”

“Did you two meet at school?”

“Yes mama. I think I mentioned him in a few of my letters. Virgil, the Hufflepuff?”

“Can I meet him?”

“Now or at home?”

“Are you implying that he’s in the car right now.”

Logan swallowed. “What is the correct answer?”

A sigh. “There isn’t one. Get out here kid.”

He appeared. “Hi Logan’s mom.”

“Jesus kid, you’re young.”

Logan must have noticed the look of surprise on his face. “She’s muggleborn.” Ah. That explained the word choice.

“You got a problem with that kid?”

“No ma’am! I have a question though.”

“Yeah?”

“Favourite Disney movie?”

“Snow White.”

He nodded. “Good choice. Betrayed by those you thought you could call family. Nice.”

A pause. “You sure you’re not a Slytherin?”

“Yeah. Not all that ambitious.”

“I can relate. I was more of a quiet Ravenclaw, myself.”

They talked Disney movies all the way to Logan’s house.

  
  



	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long! This one was a bear to write, but the next will hopefully come out sooner than this one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I know it's been ages! And this is kinda short...  
> But hey, Patton discovers Disney! Is that a consolation?

They arrived at Lo’s house. Now, when I say house, I mean manor. And when I say manor, I’m referring to the actual freaking castle they pulled into the cobbled driveway of. 

How did carriages roll on these things so quickly without shattering? Even in a car it was bumpy.

Oh, wait, magic. Duh. 

That was a stupid question. 

But it was a very nice house. 

 

\----------

 

Logan dropped his stuff off in his room and looked at Virgil. 

“The library’s over there if you want to go read.”

Virgil thought for a minute. “Do they have featherlight charms on them?”

“Of course.”

At his surprised look he explained. 

“We have featherlight charms on almost anything in the house. Not only to make moving things or interacting with them easier, but also because we want to make sure our house-elves don’t hurt themselves. I think you’d like Bilbo, Virgil. He usually stays in the library maintaining the books and only occasionally helping with desserts and things.”

“Oh. Cool. Um- question?”

“Yes?”

“House elves aren’t slaves, right?”

A blink. “No. Think of them as… Brownies. They perform tasks for us in exchange for food and the ambient magic wizards give off. Some groups of elves see it more as a willing serfdom, but most are in contact with the true aspect of it. Why?”

“Just making sure. It didn’t come up all that much in the library.”

They walked towards the main part of the house. “Interesting. I shall hope that that is amended. You cannot be the only one with that mentality.”

“Probably not. Hey, is that a sword? Is this whole room full of swords?!”

There was an entire hallway with cases upon cases of swords on the walls. 

“Oh, yes. One of my great-uncles was a sword collector. I keep thinking I should either categorize and catalog these, or get rid of a couple. We have closets full of the things. I didn’t know you liked swords.”

“Who doesn’t like a sword? it’s a SWORD!”

He drifted past a case of glowing silver swords and grinned wider. 

“ARE THESE GHOST SWORDS?!”

“Are they? Interesting.”

He was distracted as a hand plunged through the case and pulled one out. 

“AWESOME!”

“Now the question is how he got them there. Well, would you like to take it with you? There appear to be a few a them, and one wouldn’t be missed.”

Virgil cheered and went to figure out how to sheath it. 

Then he cheered again as a sheath appeared. 

“I CAN WEAR A SWORD!”

“Oh dear you’ve found the swords. Dinner is ready if you two would like to come down. I can have the elves make cotton candy for you if you would like to join us, Virgil.”

He blinked. “Huh?”

“Ghosts can eat cotton candy.”

“This is the best day ever.”

 

\-----------

 

Patton was bouncing up and down in excitement. 

“-And then we’re going to watch something called Disney! I don’t know what it is, but I’ve heard good things about it!”

“Disney? I haven’t heard of it, but you four have fun, alright kiddo? Call me if you need picking up-”

“ _ Daaaaad _ , I’ll be fine. We’re just hanging out for the weekend and watching movies! Whatever those are. I hear they’re like paintings but on a screen!”

He laughed at his son’s excitement. “Alright, alright. Have fun.”

“Say hi to Penny and Luke for me when they wake up!”

And with that he was gone, running up a gently sloping hill to Roman’s house. 

 

\---------

 

Roman’s house was quaint and charming. It both didn’t seem to match Roman at all, and match him perfectly. Those rare moments where he wasn’t being extra or dramatic- yeah, he was quite like the little cottage on the edge of the bluff. 

Roman came running out with a cheer and a hug. 

Virgil laughed when he fell through him and onto the ground. 

“Sorry, sorry! Forgot! Come on in!”

They wandered inside to a house that didn’t quite match the size on the outside, filled to the brim with a mix of both magic and non-magical items. The spiral staircase in the centre was built into a bookshelf, the kitchen to one side was working by itself, and a broom was flying near the loft ceiling. 

“ _ Woah. _ ”

“Oh, Ro, are your friends here already?”

“Yeah mom! Guys, this is my mom. Mom, these are my friends. Patton’s the blonde, Logan’s the black-haired one, Virgil’s the ghost.”

“It’s nice to meet you all. Casserole is in the oven, so lunch should be ready any moment if you haven’t eaten. Ro, why don’t you show them your room?”

Roman ran up the stairs with new vigor. They passed way too many floors to be possible before stopping at one for a moment. 

“Hey Rem? Whatcha workin’ on?”

“TV. You guys will have to use the projector and a wall or something, but I should have this done by the end of the summer. Oh, hey Patton. Virge.”

“Hey Rem! I didn’t know you guys were brothers!”

Remy shrugged a shoulder as he wrote on a large sheet of paper. “Technically cousins, but yeah, pretty much. Hold this, would you hon?”

He shoved a stack of paper into Logan’s arms before studying the floating pieces of paper. 

“How’d you get them to float? You’re still sixteen, right?”

“Yup. Wandless magic doesn’t have the Trace. Same with accidental magic, but that’s not the point. I’ll take that-”

The papers flew out of his arms and joined the swarm just in time for Remy to give a loud ‘AHA’ and for all the papers to fall to the floor.. 

“Got it! You lot have fun- I have some writing to do.”

He grabbed one of the many busted TVs in the corner of the room and started prying it apart, muttering under his breath as he grabbed a marker and scribbled onto the plastic and metal. 

They went back upside and moved up the stairs at a more leisurely pace. 

 

\----------

 

Patton loved Disney with a passion that was almost frightening. 

They had watched most of the classics- Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone- 

What monster had they created? 

Just wait until Virgil introduced him to The Aristocats and Pete’s Dragon. 

 

\-----------

 

Logan and Patton were long asleep. Remy, Virgil, and Roman were arguing over movies. 

Roman was losing. “But Sleeping Beauty was so nice! Defeat the dragon-”

“And almost die while you fall asleep for years until a kiss wakes you up? Two words:-”

Remy finished with Virgil in tandem. “ _ Corpse Germs. _ ” 

“Same problem with Snow White, really.”

Roman groaned before falling back onto his stack of pillows. 

“You guys are no fun.”

“I know. G’night.”

“Night.”

They settled down for sleep with the rush of magic around them. 

It had been a good night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a sucker for Remy and Roman as relatives.   
> But I swear, the next chapter will be out faster! (hopefully!) I just need to work on making some filler chapters! This is by no means abandoned!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy, sorry it's been awhile. I'm writing them as I post now, so they'll probably be awhile. Sorry.   
> But hey, Remus is here! (Aka spoilers. You hath been warned.)

The summer was almost over. Virgil flit between his friend’s houses, but… 

He kinda missed Hogwarts. What did ghosts do during the summer anyways? 

So he waved a goodbye, grabbed his sword, and zoomed off towards the hills, following the train tracks to Hogsmeade. 

Let’s just say what he found was a surprise. 

 

\-----------

 

The first thing he noticed in the castle was how loud it was. It was in the middle of the summer, yet there was- 

Music. 

He followed it down to the dungeons and stared agawk. 

The ghosts were-

They were-

_ Partying.  _

He recognized some of the songs- Hey Jude, California Dreamin’- how the hell-

Then Paint it Black came on and he grinned. 

Oh this was going to be a  _ blast _ . 

Screw the logistics, he was going to party.

 

\-----------

 

He found himself having a surprisingly animated discussion with Peeves, Myrtle, the Friar, and the Bloody Baron about proper sword maintenance when a hush came over the dungeon as Nearly Headless Nick ran into the room. 

“McGonagall and the first years are approaching the corridor!”

Wait- what? It had been two days?! 

Everything was quickly packed away and everyone spread out through the castle. 

Virgil was happy to go sit at the Hufflepuff table to continue their conversation while Dumbledore made his usual speech. It seemed to be about the same as last years’. 

He turned back towards the conversation at hand, Patton watching it with amusement.

“It can’t be that hard to use! Pointy end, sharp side! It can be finessed, yeah-”

The Friar was just chortling. Alright, he was wrong, he could admit it. He just wouldn’t. 

They scooted over as a few familiar figures sat down at the table. 

Patton grinned at Logan, Deceit, and Roman. 

Wait, when had they gotten friendly with-

“Hey kiddos! Long time no see!”

“We talked on the train, Patton.” Logan deadpanned. 

“I know!” He bounced along in his seat happily for a moment before turning to Deceit, who was eying the Friar with hesitant curiosity. “Do you really have a ghost that’s covered in blood? That’s so…”

“Ech?” Roman suggested, as if it were a noun.

“Yeah, that.”

Logan picked at a roll. “‘Ech’ is not a noun, but I do believe it applies for the situation at hand. Why is he so bloodless?”

“Because he’s a ghost!”

A groan. He’d walked straight into that. 

“Bloodless as in cold, unemotional, or unanimated, Patton.” 

Deceit raised an eyebrow at Virgil, question unspoken. He nodded back. 

They were always like this. You got used to it pretty quickly. 

He got a small shrug in response before the person in question turned back towards the group. 

“Rumor is that’s because he killed a guy before he died, but no idea about the chains, sorry.”

Virgil made a face. “That explains why he knows a lot about sword maintenance I guess.”

Friar shook his head. “Oh, no, that is because he lived at the same time as the Founders. He is one of the oldest ghosts here, other than all of us, other than perhaps the Grey Lady. It really is a sad story.”

“Oh.”

That was a bummer.

"DUKE, REMUS!"

Then Roman perked up. 

“Remus is getting sorted! This is it!”

“Wait, who?”

“Cousin our age. He’s a transfer student from Durmstrang. They have to get sorted too. Now shh-!”

The hat’s ripped brim opened-

“RAVENCLAW!”

The Ravenclaw table cheered as Roman’s mouth fell open. 

“Wh _ at?! _ ”

Damn dude, that was like… three octaves at the least. 

“Does the house not suit him?”

“No, no- I guess in a way but- him??? In a house meant for bookworms???”

“Ravenclaw also means creativity Roman, that could very well apply!”

Roman’s face fell. 

“Oh  _ no.” _

He groaned into his hands with a very loud thump. 

“ _ OH NOOOO-” _

“What’s his problem?” Logan spoke over the groaning teen. 

_ “NOOOO-” _

Deceit answered, looking mildly entertained. “Oh, I know this one. We were pen pals for awhile. Remus is… creative, to say the least. He has a mildly abrasive personality until you either get used to him or get past it. You will not be able to imagine how many dicks were drawn on that single piece of paper. But he’s pretty cool if you get to know him.”

“Wait, you were pen-pals with my cousin?”

“Yup. Small world. But hey Logan, you’ll be roomies!~”

Logan looked less than pleased with the idea. “Joy.” He deadpanned.

There was a thump next to him as Remus flung himself onto the bench and threw his arms around his shoulders. He stiffened on reflex.

“A ghost, huh? How fun!”

Wait. He had thrown his arms around his shoulders.

“What THE FUCK?!”

He didn’t fall through Remus’s arms. The kid blinked at him. “Never met a Mortemagus, huh? This is gonna be fun!”

“It’s pronouned “Mort-uh-mayje-us, not… whatever you said.” Logan commented.

“What is that?”

“A person who can physically communicate with ghosts and spirits. They can naturally see Thestrals and have a slight likelihood of becoming poltergeists after death, defying all known logic and reasoning.” 

Remus waved a hand, a rather silver wand with a mace motif handing from his fingertips. “Oh shut it dork, this is gonna be fun!”

This was going to be a looooong year. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up a Motremagus. Partially because that's kind of hilarious. Remus can prank ghosts now!   
> Can ghosts get wet-willies? I don't think I want to know, except it's probably going to happen anyway, knowing the trash man. Welp. Sorry Virge.  
> Hope you enjoyed! Have a great day!

**Author's Note:**

> So... this kind of ended up being a thing I wrote and it ended up getting somewhere, so I hope it lasts. The posting schedule will definitely be crazy though, so don't get your hopes up that it will be posted very frequently other than the first couple so you have something to read. Sorry about that. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading, and have a great day!


End file.
